Many railway goodies chugged into Bangalore

Many railway goodies chugged into Bangalore
S Lalitha, Bangalore, Dec 29, DHNS:

The year saw the fulfilment of two long standing demands of Bangaloreans - an Inter-City express between Shimoga and Bangalore and a day train between the City and Mangalore.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has also announced the launch of a Doronto (non-stop, superfast) Express between Bangalore and Howrah. The train will make its inaugural run from Yeshwantpur on January 3.

Other big launches during the year include the Yeshwantpur-Mysore Express and Yeshwantpur-Solapur Gol Gumbaz Tri-weekly Express. Notable among the train extensions introduced are the Mumbai-Karwar Express to Mangalore and the Yeshwantpur-Mangalore train to Kannur.

Steps to transform Byappanahalli into a world-class railway station are proceeding. A Chinese team visited the station early this year and submitted a proposal. Another novel decision for the Bangalore Division was the move to permit multi-storeyed complexes on unutilised railway land to fetch extra revenue for Railways.

A major move for passenger safety was replacing mechanical and electrical signalling systems with a modernised, automatic signalling system.

Moves to upgrade security at railway stations all over Bangalore went on throughout the year. One initiative was to stop issual of platform tickets at City station. Though this succeeded in reducing congestion, it earned much flak from the majority. More surveillance cameras and sniffer-dogs were pressed into service. A request for a major increase in Railway Police and Government Railway Police for the Bangalore Division is expected to be sanctioned this year.

Areas that need improvement continued to be inadequate water facilities at railway stations and initiatives to reduce the rush for tickets during vacations and festivals.

SWR division
The South Western Railway Division ‘s problem with the Archaeology Department over shifting of the Tipu Sultan Armoury concluded on an amicable note. The armoury that came in the way of the doubling work between Mysore and Ramanagaram is getting shifted.