To board a flight, catch a train to BIA from March

To board a flight, catch a train to BIA from March

The state is pumping in Rs2,500 crore for various railway projects in the next five years

Srikanth Hunasavadi. Bangalore



It's official. Starting March 2010, the city's air travellers will get some reprieve from the long journey to the airport. KH Muniyappa, union minister of state for railways, announced that the South Western Railway's train services from the city to Devanahalli will commence in March 2010 as per schedule.
He said on Saturday that train services to Anekal would also start by March. "We have requested the Karnataka government to provide a track link to BIA from Devanahalli station but the state government has not yet taken a decision," he said. Muniyappa added that if the state government provides this last mile connectivity through the track link, he would extend the train services to BIA directly.
Further decoding the union railway budget for the state, Muniyappa said that nine train services, as announced, will start operation within three months and the survey of 15 new railway lines would be completed within six months. "We have successfully launched train services that were announced in the previous budget. Only two train services, i.e., extension of Karwar-Mangalore and Rajdhani trains are pending. Within a month, these two train services will also start.
"Soon after, we will launch the new train services announced in the 2010-11 railway budget," he said.
Muniyappa also said that on cost-sharing basis, Kottur-Harihara, Shimoga-Talaguppa, Bangalore-Mysore and Munirabad-Raichur railway projects have been taken up. "The total cost is Rs4,862 crore, of which the state government will pump in about Rs778 crore while the railways will invest the remaining amount. Apart from that, the state government is pumping in Rs2,500 crore for various railway projects in the next five years," he added.
Of the earlier 30 surveys sanctioned, 18 have been completed and officials have been directed to complete the survey of 15 new routes including Mysore-Mangalore within the next six months on priority basis, the minister said. He pointed out that last year's outlay was Rs743 crore while this year, it has been doubled to Rs1,483 crore.