• 15 Railway Stations to be redeveloped under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme
• All broad-gauge routes to be fully electrified by December 2023

Mysore/Mysuru: A poll-bound Karnataka has received a budget outlay of Rs. 7,561 crore for Railway projects and notably, the Mysuru Railway Division has been allotted Rs. 920 crore, one of the highest allocation so far, to clear many pending projects.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Rahul Agarwal said that the funds will enhance connectivity and mobility across the Mysuru Division. The interaction with the media was organised at the DRM Office after the press conference by Railway Minister Ashwin Vaishnaw.

The Minister said that the projects that were sanctioned for Karnataka include new rail lines being executed by South Western Railway (SWR) for which Rs. 2,423 crore has been allocated and Rs. 1,529 crore has been provided for track-doubling projects. Vaishnaw said that the average annual outlay between 2009 and 2014 for the State stood at Rs. 835 crore. “This year’s budget is a nine-time increase over that,” he said.

“As many as 51 stations in Karnataka would be developed under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme and Vande Bharat trains would run between Hubballi and Bengaluru and Hydrogen-powered trains would be tested. In the next financial year, 300 trains would be replaced with new sets of trains,” he added.

Vande Bharat speed

On the speed of Vande Bharat train operated between Chennai and Mysuru via Bengaluru that at present runs at a speed of 75-77 km per hour like Shatabdi Express, SWR General Manager Sanjeev Kishore said that they had an action plan to run the train at 125 km per hour. By June, the tracks will be upgraded substantially and the travel time will be reduced by 10 to 20 minutes. Breaking down the budget further, Rahul Agarwal said all broad-gauge routes in Mysuru Division will be fully electrified by Dec. 2023. “Out of 1132 km, 499 km of track electrification has been completed. We will complete electrification of 271 km by March this year and the remaining 363 km will be electrified by Dec. 2023,” he added.

Under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, 15 Railway Stations in Mysuru Division — Chamarajanagar, Sakleshpur, Subramanya Road, Tiptur, Arsikere, Sagara Jambugaru, Shivamogga Town, Harihar, Ranebennur, Talaguppa, Chitradurga, Bantwal, Hassan, Chikkamagalur and Davangere — will be developed and each station will receive Rs. 8 crore to Rs. 10 crore for improving passenger amenities.

Railway Station expansion

On the expansion of Mysuru City Railway Station where three additional platforms will be built at a cost of Rs. 395 crore for which PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation in June 2022, Rahul Agarwal said that the project entails relocation and resettling the existing staff from the Railway Quarters to a new place.

“We are looking at expanding congested City Railway Station and there is a proposal to utilise the space at present occupied by Staff Quarters beginning near the CFTRI Gate Railway Station entrance from Vani Vilas Water Works on KRS Road till the Railway Colony. The Quarters have to be demolished and before that, the present occupants have to be resettled,” he said.

“We are already scouting for other Central Government Departments in city whose quarters are vacant so that some occupants can be relocated. Once the demolition is complete and the area is made plain, the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) tender has to be floated. This will take time,” the DRM added.