Department of Urban Land Transportation (DULT) in GOK had called a meeting with all the stake holders of 'Commuter Rail' to discuss the 2012 RITES report on Implementing Commuter Rail Service in Bangalore.
The meeting was held on July 11th, 2012 @ 3 PM in Meeting Hall No. 422, 4th floor, Vikasa Soudha, Bangalore. Here is the summary of proceedings of this meeting captured by Mr. Muralidhar Rao, President, Praja-RAAG.
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Yesterday's meeting was one that conveyed the most positive of vibes for any meeting involving government officials that I have ever attended. There was Ms Manjula, IAS from UDD, alongwith team members Mr Shailendra Singh, and Mr Purushotam; Mr Khatri, IAS from IDD, alongwith four of his senior officers; Mr Sudanshu Mani, DRM, SWR alongwith team members Mr Praveen Kumar Pandey, Sr DOM / Bangalore, Mr N Ramesh, Sr DCM Bangalore, SWR, Mr Nanduri Srinivas, CTPM SWR Hubli, apart from a few other senior officers; the RITES team of three (from Secunderabad) headed by Mr K Venkateswara Rao, GM (Transportation & Economics); and Sanjeev, Hemant and me from PRAJA-RAAG
The meeting went on for over two hours, with all of them concentrating on how best to get it off the ground the fastest, and thereafter to realise its fullest potential. At the end of it all, it was decided that RITES will make the revisions in the scope of the stages/ phases, as discussed, by the 20th of the month, to enable UDD/ IDD to table the proposal requiring the state's sanction before the Chief Secretary by the month-end. Simultaneously, the proposal requiring the Railway Board's sanction will also be processed and pursued by SWR.
If I understood correctly, in the first phase, some 40 new trains will start in a matter of 12 - 24 months, replacing some 26 pairs of present ones (Mr Sudanshu Mani was even talking of introducing a few even as early as within 3 months).And, once the entire upgradation (electrification, signalling, doubling/ adding new sets of tracks, fly-overs where required, terminal/ berthing facilities, etc) is carried out, the number of trains can increase to 120/ 140 or more.
The link to BIAL was not considered so far, since it would require about 4 km of elevated tracks. Ms Manjula suggested that this too be included any way to provide for a ready comparison to the HSRL option.
All in all, a very positive development. It is perhaps for us now to popularise the concept, particularly involving the MLA's/ MP's from constituencies on the periphery of the city.
