Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi has said that the Indian Railways was contemplating setting up a Railway Ancillary Export Zone (RAEZ) near Kittur in Belagavi district along the proposed Dharwad-Kittur-Belagavi new railway line, which was under consideration of the Railway Ministry.
The Minister made this announcement during the inauguration of a satellite office of the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), Bengaluru, in Hubballi on Tuesday.
Explaining the rationale behind the proposal, Mr. Angadi said that as the new railway line was under consideration by the ministry, RAEZ had been thought of, as it would boost industries involved in manufacturing components required for the railways. “We have already identified a land near Kittur for the purpose,” he said.
The Union Minister said that the proposal would also help in developing the proposed Mumbai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor. Mr. Angadi said that small and medium industries would be benefited as their products would be procured by the railways and they would also be encouraged to export the components.
Responding to the request for an additional express train between Hubballi and Bengaluru by Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries Jagadish Shettar, Mr. Angadi asked the General Manager of South Western Railway Ajay Kumar Singh to look into the feasibility of running additional train.
Mr. Angadi said that it had been proposed run a few more new trains in Karnataka, including Bidar-Belagavi, Bidar-Bengaluru and Bengaluru-Mangaluru and the services would be launched soon. He said that the demand for extending the Pune-Belagavi train up to Hubballi was being looked into.
Inaugurating the RRB satellite office, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi said that the Union government was contemplating increasing the passenger revenue from existing 31% to 50% and accordingly requisite investments were being made to improve railway infrastructure and services.
