GULBARGA, September 18, 2014

Four high-speed rail corridors planned

T.V. Sivanandan

Memorandum of understanding to be signed with China

D.V. Sadananda Gowda

Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday said the Railways would enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China on developing the Mysore–Bangalore–Chennai section as well as three other corridors in the country into as high-speed corridors.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Gowda said that a high-powered delegation from China would visit New Delhi on Thursday and that he was going to Delhi to hold discussions with them and sign the MoU.

The Railways could run trains at a speed of 160 kmph after the high-speed corridors were developed. The trial of converting the Delhi–Agra section into a high-speed corridor had been successful, he said.

Byappanahalli station

Mr. Gowda said the Railways had proposed converting the Byappanahalli Railway Station in Bangalore into an ultra-modern third railway terminus. It would be executed on a private-public-participation (PPP) model. The proposed terminal would have a mall, cinema, star hotels and other facilities.

He said the Railways already had 80 acres of land attached to the existing station and this would be used for the construction of the terminus.

Mr. Gowda clarified that this would be a wholly Indian venture with private players from within the country. No foreign direct investment (FDI) would be allowed, he said.

While the private players would operate all other facilities in the proposed terminal, the Railways would take care of operational matters. The private players would pay royalty to the Railways and the facility would be given on lease to them. As per the initial estimate, the cost of the project was likely to be more than Rs. 1,000 crore.

Other projects

Mr. Gowda said the Railways would also develop Navalur in Dharwad district as a hub for movement of fruits and vegetables with the active coordination of the Central Railside Warehousing Company. To a question, he said the Railways had taken up a survey of three new railway lines from Gadag to Harpanahalli (covering a distance of 94 km), Talaguppa to Siddapur (18 km), and Shimoga–Shringeri–Mangalore (220 km).

For the Gadag–Wadi railway line approved by the previous UPA government, Rs. 16 crore has been allocated this year.

He said the track-doubling work between Ramanagaram and Mysore would be completed in March 2015 and the Hassan–Bangalore doubling work, which had been pending for the past 15 years would be completed by March 2016. The government had also given approval for doubling work between Hoti and Gadag railway station, covering a distance of 284 km, at a cost of Rs. 1,618 crore.

To overcome the problem of unmanned railway crossings, the Railways had allocated Rs. 1,900 crore this year to construct more than 500 railway overbridges (ROBs) and railway underbridges (RUBs), including 49 ROBs and RUBs in Karnataka.