Meeting on rail projects tomorrow

Minister of State for Railways K.H. Muniyappa has said that the Railways accord priority to infrastructure projects whose costs are shared by the States.

He said here on Monday that Karnataka had shared half the cost of 15 projects and Andhra Pradesh for 12.

“They remain priority projects. We are committed to completing all of them on time,” Mr. Muniyappa said, before flagging off the Bidar–Hyderabad Intercity Express here. States such as Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu too were following this model now, he said.

“The Karnataka government shared two-thirds of the cost of doubling the railway line between Bangalore and Mysore. The work is in progress and we plan to complete it by December 2012 or early 2013,” he said.

Mr. Muniyappa said the progress of all railway projects in the State would be reviewed at a meeting with Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar in Bangalore on Wednesday.

He said the departure timing of the Nanded–Bangalore Express from Bidar had been changed to 2.30 p.m. from 12.30 p.m. However, it would be difficult for the Railways to change the timings to make it an overnight train from Bidar to the State capital. It involved coordination among three zones and required changes in the timings of other trains, he said. Mr. Muniyappa said the Railways were forced to consider running an intercity train between Bidar–Hyderabad following appeals from the former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh and some other organisations.

The Minister said the Railways could study the demand for extending the Nanded–Bombay Express to Bidar and running trains on the newly laid track between Bidar and Humnabad.

“We would also consider demands of stopping the Kacheguda–Manmad train at Kamal Nagar station in Aurad taluk,” he said.

G.N. Asthana, South Central Railway General Manager, said that they were working on laying new lines between Bidar–Gulbarga, Raichur–Gadwal and Kadapa–Bangarpet. Work on the first two tracks was 60 per cent complete. Work on the third had started.

“We are on the verge of completing a project to convert Bidar Railway Station into an ‘Adarsh’ station. We have given it a facelift and provided passenger amenities. We will build pay and use toilets, platform shelters and extend the foot bridge on either sides,” he said.

More:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3883372.ece