What about old promises?

What about old promises?

Deepa Bhasthi | TNN


Bangalore: The present railway budget has been good for the state — many new trains, several proposals for new lines. But with the new coming in, out go recollections of old promises, several unfulfilled.
Previous railway minister Lalu Prasad had promised a Bullet train between Bangalore and Chennai. Though it created a lot of excitement, both for its exorbitant estimated cost and estimated 250 km per hour speed, nothing was heard about the superfast train after that. Divisional railway manager Akhil Agrawal said there was nothing about the Bullet train in the current budget, and declined to comment further.
The proposal to make Byappanahalli a world-class station is an old one too. After the initial announcement, the publicprivate partnership initiative saw a Chinese delegation visiting the location a few times for inspections. The consultancy has been given to the delegation but the report they will file, enabling the project to be taken forward, is yet to reach the Board in the railway department. “We are awaiting the report. We have not heard anything much after the delegation’s visit last year,” officials said.
Byappanahalli, along with Bangalore City and Mangalore, will be taken up for upgrading to world-class facilities under this year’s budget.
Several lines were proposed too. The Bangalore-Ramanagaram line has been completed and work till Srirangapatna is underway. The progress of the project was for long halted over what had to be done with Tipu Sultan’s armoury in Srirangapatna, through which part of the line was proposed.
After much dilly-dallying later, the issue has now been sorted out with the archaeological department agreeing to shift the armoury to another location.
The much awaited Bangalore-Mysore line is also being taken up. Declining to comment on other projects, Agrawal said several projects were underway. Many promises, most notably the Bullet, have been forgotten, buried underneath a slew of new announcements. The only saving grace will be if the promises for new lines, new trains and passenger amenities are kept this time around.