The Railway authorities have been urged to extend a few trains terminating at Bengaluru, to Mysuru and Chamarajanagar for people in the region, apart from speeding up existing services.
City-based NGO Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) submitted a memorandum, based on its interaction with various stakeholders, to the Divisional Railway Manager seeking his intervention in complying with the demands. The list includes the extension of 12609/10 Chennai-Bengaluru Intercity to Mysuru as an alternate train for the KSR Bengaluru-Kannur/Karwar train, which originally ran via Mysuru but has now been rerouted and skips Mysuru.
The MGP said this would benefit hundreds of professionals who work in Whitefield, K.R. Puram, etc in Bengaluru but are from Mysuru. “Till February 10, 2018, most of them were managing with the 5.30 a.m. Kannur/Karwar (16518) express till KSR Bengaluru. On the return side, they were using same train leaving KSR Bengaluru at 8.30 p.m. Now, this train has been diverted via the newly-laid track between Bengaluru and Hassan,” the memorandum stated.
Extensions sought
Hence, it suggested the extension of 12609/12610 Bengaluru-Chennai Intercity to Mysuru till an alternate train can be provided. Currently this train leaves KSR Bengaluru at 8 a.m. but can originate from Mysuru at 5.20 a.m. so as to reach Bengaluru at 7.45 a.m. according to the MGP.
In the return direction, the train can depart from Bengaluru at 8.20 p.m. to reach Mysuru by 11 p.m, it added.
The stakeholders have also sought the extension of 12785/86 Kacheguda-KSR Bengaluru Kacheguda SF Express and said this was a two-decade-old demand. “There are 14 daily buses, including private buses, from Mysuru to Hyderabad which itself shows the demand,” according to the MGP.
Other demands
The other demand pertained to extension of train number 17301/17302 Dharwad-Mysuru Dharwad Express and 17307/17308 Bagalkot-Mysuru-Bagalkot Basava Express to Chamarajanagar. The MGP said the two trains share the rake with primary maintenance taking place at Hubballi and are kept idle at the Mysuru station for nearly 8 hours.
These two trains transverse through 20 districts of Karnataka and will help in connecting educational and industrial centre of north Karnataka and Malnad region with Chamarajanagar, said the MGP.
The other demands pertained to increasing the speed of the existing trains on the Mysuru-Bengaluru section consequent to the completion of track doubling and electrification so as to give full benefit of the two projects to the public; augmentation of coaches on a few trains, introduction of AC coaches on a few trains, among others.
