Railways sets ball rolling on Mysuru- Bengaluru high-speed corridor

Railways flags off inaugural run of Mysuru-Varanasi bi-weekly express from Mysuru

The preliminary survey on the high-speed rail corridor for operation of high-speed trains between Mysore-Chennai via Bengaluru was recently conducted by the Chinese technical team and the outcome of the survey is awaited.

Satting this, South Western Railway divisional manager Rajkumar Lal today said the work on the shifting of the Tipu Sultan's armory at Srirangapattana had already begun paving the way for early commissioning of the Bengaluru- Mysuru double line in entirety.

The ongoing work on track doubling between Mysuru and Bengaluru will be completed by March , Mysuru-Kodagu MP Prathap Simha said. He flagged off the inaugural run of Mysuru-Varanasi bi-weekly express at the Mysuru Railway station. High-speed trains would become a possibility once the track doubling work is completed, he said.

Introduction of WiFi facility at the Mysuru railway station was also being considered. At present, the facility is available free of cost at Bengaluru railway station. WiFi was already introduced in an express train between Mysuru and Bengaluru. There were a few technical issues, which had to be resolved. Once that was done, WiFi will be extended to a few more trains.

Local MLA Vasu urged for a new railway station at Metagalli. He said it was a long-pending demand and can decongest the main railway station, besides helping a large number of residents of Metagalli and adjoining localities using train services.

The Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) had taken up parallel road work to the proposed station at Rs 16 crore. He also urged the Railways to introduce more trains on the Mysore-Bangalore sector to decongest the highway.

"We have seen a spurt in road accidents on the highway," Vasu said.

Responding to his plea, Simha assured to take up the proposal with the new railway minister early. While congratulating the Railways for commissioning new train to Varanasi, he wanted more trains from Mysore to other important destinations as Mysore would see a rapid growth in the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, Lal said the smart card-based automatic ticket vending machines would be installed in the Mysore railway station by January 2015, which will help in getting tickets easily round the clock.

With the inauguration of the new train, Lal said the connectivity between the two important cities had been established.

Besides, people of Varanasi and Mysuru can also visit the other two prominent pilgrim centers, Mantralayam and Shirdi, en route. It also served as an additional train to Bangalore operating two days in a week at a very convenient time.

The train departs from Mysuru twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday 7.20 am. It arrives in Mysuru on Sundays and Tuesdays at 3 pm. It has 16 coaches comprising one two-tier air conditioned, one three-tier air-conditioned, six second class sleeper, six general second class and two ladies-cum-luggage compartments.

It will have stoppages at Mandya, Kengeri, Bangalore City, Yeshwanthpur, Tumkur, Arsikere, Kadur, Chitradurga, Bellary, Guntakal, Adoni, Mantralayam Road, Raichur, Krishna, Yadgir, Wadi, Gulbarga, Solapur, Daund, Ahmednagar, Kopergaon, Manmad, Bhusaval,

Khandwa, Itarsi, Piparia, Narsingpur, Jabalpur, Katni, Maihar, Satna, Chheoki and Mirzapur.