Bengaluru: The Union Government has approved high-speed train between Mysuru and Chennai via Bengaluru and it has also given in principle approval to upgrade the Mysuru City Railway Station into international standards.

At a meeting with Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Aug. 17, Chief Minister Siddharamaiah discussed the high-speed railway link and sources said that the Union Minister assured the CM that he would clear the project. Siddharamaiah reminded Suresh Prabhu about the promised suburban rail for Bengaluru and Mysuru and a third rail line between Cantonment Railway Station and Whitefield.

“The Chief Minister pointed out that the Rs. 22 crore proposal for the third rail line had been submitted to the Railway Board and asked that it be cleared early,” a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said.

In his presentation, Siddharamaiah made a case for introduction of the high-speed train in addition to the Shatabdi train between Bengaluru and Chennai and giving a new look to the Bengaluru City, Mysuru, Yelahanka, Yeshwantpur and Cantonment Railway Stations.

At a different meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Chief Minister lodged a protest against the inadequate allocation made for Karnataka under the State Disaster Response Fund. “He conveyed the State’s displeasure at Karnataka being allocated merely Rs. 1,527 crore for five years, much less than the fund allocated for States such as  Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,” the  statement added. The State’s share of the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) too has fallen, according to official sources. “While the State’s share of the CRF was 3.2 percent between 1990 and 2005, it has fallen to 2.4 percent between 2005 and 2020, putting enormous pressure on its exchequer,” sources said.

BRAINCHILD OF SIDDHARAMAIAH

It may be mentioned here that the bullet train is the brainchild of Siddharamaiah, who was impressed by such a train during his visit to Dalian in China to attend the global summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in September 2013.

At that WEF meeting, Siddharamaiah had met Japan’s Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Hakubun Shimomura. The Japanese side had evinced interest in a high-speed (bullet) train project in terms of technology and investment, the CM had told media persons then.

“A bullet train between Bengaluru and Mysuru is necessary as we want to decongest Bengaluru. One can reach Mysuru in 30 minutes by bullet train”, Siddharamaiah had said. He was impressed by his eight-minute travel by a high speed train from Shanghai central to Pudong international airport covering a distance of 50 kms.