Ahead of the Railway Budget, Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda has urged the Railway Ministry to include seven rail lines in the budget, including Gadag-Haveri, Raichur-Bagalkot, and doubling of Bangalore-Mangalore lines.
In identical letters to Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi and Minister of State for Railways K.H. Muniyappa, Mr. Sadananda Gowda said that the government had been demanding sanction of seven new rail lines for the last three years. However, the requests had been neglected, he regretted.
The new rail lines are Gadag-Haveri (80 km); Alamatti-Yadgir via Muddebihal (150 km); Alamatti-Koppal via Koodalasangama (124 km); Raichur-Bagalkot; Tumkur-Tiptur-Arsikere (missing patch doubling); Bijapur-Athani-Shedbal and Mangalore-Bangalore doubling.
Refuting the often-made statements by the Railway Ministry that the government had not handed over required land for new lines, the Chief Minister pointed out to Mr. Trivedi that out of 2,493 acres of land, 2,293 acres of land have been handed over to the Railways, and the remaining 200 acres will be handed over before February 15.
Mr. Sadananda Gowda also urged the Railway Minister to include Gadag-Wadi and Srinivasapura-Madanapalle new lines in the forthcoming budget.
He said that the line would traverse a number of dry, however, potentially mineral rich districts of North Karnataka. The government has also undertaken a number of initiatives recently in terms of putting up industrial zones — a steel zone in the districts of Koppal and Bellary, a cement zone in Gulbarga, Bagalkot and Bijapur. This rail line would provide logistic support to industries that coming up in these areas.
Again, raising the demand for a commuter rail system for the Bangalore region, Mr. Sadananda Gowda urged the Railway Minister to announce the system in the budget.
He said that the traffic data of Bangalore metropolitan region fully justifies starting of a commuter rail. The commuter rail system will disperse habitations from the densely-populated central city area to destinations outside ÿBangalore such as Anekal, Malur, Devanahalli, Tumkur, Nelamangala and Bidadi.
The commuter rail system could be seamlessly integrated with other mass rapid transport systems such as the Metro, Mono, High Speed Rail and the Bus Rapid Transit System.
