Commuter rail work to begin in 6 months: South Western Railway General Manager

Bengaluru: South Western Railway General Manager Pradeep Kumar Saxena has announced that the works on commuter rail project may begin within six months. The project is expected to ease traffic congestion on city roads.

He told reporters here on Wednesday that as per the announcement made by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, talks between state government and Railways would soon begin in this regard. “Technical report is expected to be finalised in three months. After that the work may begin,” he said.

Saxena informed that this year SWR was planning to complete 208 kilometres of railway track and twenty new trains will be added to the SWR schedule.

Train to Hassan: Saxena said that a direct train service between Bengaluru and Hassan, via Kunigal, Shravanabelagola is expected to begin by year end.

“Works of this lane is at the final stages. Mysuru-Bengaluru doubling work is also nearing completion,” he said.

Higher investment: The General Manager said that in last two years Rs 2,196 core has been invested for various railway projects in the state. He said this was much higher than expenditure in the previous years.

Increase in revenue: Saxena said SWR was expecting a six to seven per cent increase in its revenue this fiscal due to the improved performance.

Senior Divisional Commercial Manager N.S. Sridhar Murthy said that ticketless travel was a major problem. He said that on Saturday alone within eight hours 1,820 passengers were booked and '5.74 lakh collected as fines.