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Will the new Railway Minister make Namma Railu a reality?
Written By kbsyed61 - 28 May, 2014
Bangalore railways Bengaluru GOK public transport Commuter rail Suburban Rail Public
It is to Karnataka State's good fortune that once again it has landed with the Railway Ministry post. The Bangalore North MP, Shri. D. V. Sadanand Gowda has been given the charge of Railway Ministry in the new government. On behalf of Praja, I would like to congratulate the new government and Shri. Sadanand Gowda. We wish them very best.
Though the laundry list for Railways in Karnataka is very long, the pending Suburban Rail project is one project that, we at Praja would be taking up very strongly with the Mr. Gowda. A lot of ground has been covered since the campaign for it was started in 2010 and more recently GOK gave its in-principle approval in 2013. The current status is that it is pending with Railway Board for their concurrence and approval for 50-50 partnership. We do hope that Mr. Gowda would lend all his support for this project and see that Namma Railu starts chugging ASAP.
It is very heartening to note that post Mr. Sadanand Gowda's appointment as Railway Minister, there has been very wide publicity in news papers with a wish list in which Namma Railu project is being given the highest prominence.
Courtesy - The Hindu
"...People expect Mr. Gowda, who represents Bangalore North and hails from Dakshina Kannada, to balance the interests and demands of all the regions in the State, including the demands to provide suburban railway system for Bangalore, creation of Mangalore division and merging it with Konkan Railway, and construction of additional branch lines to connect Karnataka with the rest of the country as presently only a few trunk lines — Bangalore–Guntakal, Bangalore–Hubli and Bangalore–Jolarpettai — are functional..."
Courtesy - The New Indian Express
"...As for Karnataka, Mandoth listed out the projects to be executed without any delay. They are, Suburban rail system for Bangalore, CCompletion of Bangalore-Hassan line, Double Bangalore-Mysore track..."
Though the ball is in Railways court, the equal responsibility lies on GOK's shoulders too.
Now the million dollar question is, would Mr. Gowda would rise to the occassion and make Namma Railu a reality? Or he will also succumbed to the state and central politics like his predecessor Mr. Kharge.
COMMENTS
Naveen - 28 May, 2014 - 05:38
Suburban rail is an absolute necessity for a city that is growing by leaps & bounds & yet, the railways & the govt machinery has been so mis-aligned with realities that they have lost focus & have been tottering until now when all have started screaming aloud for Suburban Rail, at last.
Political inactivity by Karnataka in demanding fair share from railways apart, Indian Railways itself needs to buck up. The low-cost low-quality services may have been acceptable in the past when majority of commuters were poor but now, fares will have to be increased step by step rather than assuming that govt dole will continue to flow to subsidize passenger fares & offseting some of the subsidy with high freight rates - they are losing out on freight also as movement on roads has been increasing.
I hope the new govt & railway minister set things right.
srinidhi - 28 May, 2014 - 06:53
Yes agree that CRS is really important for Bangalore. But the minister has other major things due in Karnataka:
Tumkur - Davanagere line
Blr- Hassan line
Blr - Mysore doubling
Probably Sanjeev can add more to the list.
All of these are also important so where does CRS for Blr stand in the list now? Is there a chance to prioritize?
Other Important projects need attention,but CRS can kick start
Sanjeev - 28 May, 2014 - 08:57
Other railway Projects in Karnataka are equally important but they need time and budget to mature. On the CRS, as per RITES report and our own analysis, 34 /30 services can be introduced with additional 4/6 rakes of MEMU & DEMU type. Some signalling improvements are must.
Already as earlier mentioned, huge railway projects are taken up on cost sharing basis in & arround Bangalore like more then 200 Crore projects of ROB / RUB with BBMP, doubling & electrification of Bangalore - Mysore, Nelamangala - Sravanabelagola.
Apart from these, Railways are doing on their own bit like MEMU shed, Expansion of Bangalore City station, Yelahanka, Baiyyappanahalli, Electrification of Track between Yelahanka - Guntakal, doubling of Yelahanka - Channasandra, Yelahanka - Yesvantpur, elimination of level crossings between Yelahanka - Chikballapur.
Also Yelahanka - Guntakal doubling has to be take on priority by Indian Railwayas Trunk root.
Also its their in the all major political party menisfesto too.
Ground work for CRS is going thru since 2009 by DULT & IDD, now it has reached final stages when Bangalore is facing challenges of Quality Urban Tranport and Tolled Highway for entry to Capital of Karnataka
All three MP's from Bangalore have put their strong support on this.
Also as such CRS will cover 7 Dist of Karnataka ( 8 MP's out of 28 MP's ). So question of priority for CRS does not arrise, it has to be done now when GOK has extended its cost sharing willingness.
kbsyed61 - 28 May, 2014 - 13:55
Sri,
You are bang on when you said where does Namma Railu stands among other equally important railway projects. We have seen how the outgoing Railway Minister prioritized the projects that benefits his constituency. There is nothing in wrong in speeding up your projects.
I could see where you are going. DVS being from Mangalore/Puttur side, there is already high expectation from coastal side for improvement in projects and trains for the region. It will be a test for him to chose between his home turf Vs Bangalore North from where he won the elections. It doesn't have to be binary outcome, rather it could be win-win for both his Janam Bhoomi and Karam Bhoomi.
Actually, the Namma Railu project should be low hanging fruit for him. Most of the difficult work is already being done. What remains is,
- Completing the approval formalities at his ministry
- Hash out the stakeholding issues with state government
- Approve the railway contribution for Phase-1A investment
- Operationalize the SPV to implement the project
It will really be a shame if Namma Railu is pushed out due to regional and political considerations.
Its time both Railway Minister and GOK sit together and sort out
Sanjeev - 5 July, 2014 - 17:42
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