Bangalore needs a bigger railway station like the international airport outside the city. The connectivity to most major cities in South India is not sufficient ( that is where I travel). The direct trains are less; if we try to take connecting trains, the trains for the destination leave at least 2 hours before your train reach. The railway line between Bangalore and Coimbatore through Dharmapuri is single line and nonelectrified. The trains to Chennai is also too less. There should be at least twice the number of trains. Railways does not analyse the traffic and work to meet the needs of the people, I think they see only booking statistics, they do not do any market surveys I believe.

State goverments wants roads because most of the construction is under their control, and railways does not invest enough or promote itself. People are also not interested in trains generally. I think people should travel distances more than100 km in train and demand more trains. Because most of the other mode of transport are privatised, they try to lobby against development of railways, which they see as a threat to their returns.

We had earlier discussed about the EDGE stations, i.e. Satellite Stations at the tip of the city for example Nayandahalli at Mysore Line, Whitefield / Byappanahalli at Chennai Line, Yeshwantpur for Tumkur Line and Yelahanka/Byappanahalli for Guntkal Line. We need to have a circular line connecting the EDGE stations from where the intercity trains and Goods Trains passing Bangalore such as Mysore-Tumkur via the circular line.

We need to utilize the existing lines within the city for local trains which will reduce the travel time say from Kengeri to Whitefield say 50 minutes compared to 2 hours by road during peak hours.

These EDGE stations can be built hi-tech because of cheaper land availabilitity compared to Bangalore City Station.

There will be lots of opposition for this, but will keep our SBC station less busy, provide local trains to Bangalore without waiting for the Metro to serve the intracity travel faster to some extent.

I have listed out some important priorities for karnataka in the railway budget.

1.Immediate priority for indian railways should be doubling of Tumkur - Hubli with electrification between Bangalore and Hubli .Already traffic moves at a snails pace and this is the major lifeline between North and South Karnataka.Momentum is the key towards growth of our state.

2.Completion of Hassan -Bangalore new line(Already work has been completed between hassan and shravanabelagola and work has also been completed between bangalore and Nelamnagala.The remaining portion of the work needs to be completed on priority in order to facilitate connectivity to three key  districts of karnatka(Hassan,Udupi and Dakshina Kannada).

3.Talguppa -Honnavar New Line-Early completion after environment clearance as this line would aid connectivity to the central Karnataka and Coastal Districts.

Doubling of Tumkur - Hubli(400 km) will take more time and needs lot of expenditure. Only Arsikere-Birur(45 km)doubling  is under progress. Instead SWR can think of a shorter route and this is via Tumkur, Sira, Hiriyur, Chitradurga, Davangere. Tumkur-Chitradurga-Davangere(200 km) will reduce the distance between Bangalore-Hubli by 65 kms.

MoS K H Muniyappa has assured funds for Tumkur-Chitradurga new Line in the next railway Budget.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/10096/funds-assured-chitradurga-tumkur-bge.html

It would be interesting to see the list of questions pertaining to Railways were asked by MPs from Karnataka. That would tell how much our representatives were concerned with railway network in our state.