SWR to electrify tracks around City

SWR to electrify tracks around City
Vijay Times

THE South Western Railway (SWR) is on track to commence the services of Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit (MEMU) trains covering all stations near to City.

The MEMU trains will be in addition to the recently introduced Diesel Electrical Multiple Unit (DEMU) train services.

In order to operate MEMU trains, SWR has started electrification of tracks around the City. The railway electrification (RE) will be done in the entire Bangalore section. Some of the lines to be electrified include ByappanahalliYelahanka, Yeshwanthpur-HebbalBanaswadi, Yeshwanthpur-Chikballapur and other connecting lines.

TEN stations in Bangalore division would be developed as model stations. This information was given by SWR divisional railway manager Mahesh Kumar at a Railway Users Consultative Committee meeting held here on Tuesday.

The stations are Bangalore City, Bangalore Cantonment, Yeshwanthpur, K R Puram, Bangarpet, Tumkur, Mandya, Hidupur, Hosur and Dharmapuri.

The South Western Railway will also open 200 kiosks for unreserved ticket bookings, as a pilot project, all over Karnataka, he said.

The Committee members called for steps to improve cleanliness in stations and trains, run more trains from Bangalore to Mysore and Chikballapur, provision of stop at Yelahanka for Kurla Express and improvement of Chikballapur and Gowribidanur railway stations. They also complained of insufficient toilets and shelters at Penukonda and Hindupur stations.

The RE process, which would take a years time for completion, has been taken up at a cost of Rs 24 The electrification of tracks would avoid the chan traction problem and in a way saves time," Mahesh Kumar, divisional railway manager, SWR.

For example, if the Yeshwanthpur track is electrified, trains going towards Chennai would not have to stop at Byappanahalli to change diesel engines into electric ones. "The stop for a few Chennai trains at Byappanahalli lasts some 20 to 30 minutes. Once the electrification of tracks up to Yeshwanthpur is done, this can be avoided and the journey to Chennai will also re he added.

The MEMU train services are in operation in cities Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai Tenders have been awarded and electrification is l to be completed by the year end, the DRM added.



Other projects

4 A Passenger Reservation System (PRS) is likely to additional platform at Cantonment Station for hand be completed in another 10 to 15 days.

4 Work on remodelling of Bangalore City Railway Stat the platforms to accommodate 24-coach trains for b remodelling of the yard is estimated to cost Rs 20

4 Work on the automatic Root Relay Interlocking (RRI also commenced. With the installation of RRI, the

4 Under RRI system, all the signals of Bangalore Div This will ensure better operation of the signals