BENGALURU: The Railway Board has given nod to conversion of existing 15 short distance passenger trains to 12 car MEMU rakes and upgradation of maintenance facilities for stabling of MEMUs at Banaswadi. MEMU refers to Mainline Electric Multiple Units. These trains have 12 coaches and hence can carry more number of passengers than regular passenger trains that have 8 coaches and run on diesel. It is also more eco-friendly.
Putting to rest the tussle between the Railways and the State government (Department of Urban Land Transport) on who would procure the rakes, the Board has given the green signal to the Railways.
The projects would be implemented by the Railways instead of the Special Purpose Vehicle planned for the Suburban Project, the letterspecifies.
“The work of enhancement of maintenance facilities for MEMU rakes at Banaswadi shall be taken up after approval of the work in Supplementary budget 2017-2018 of the Central Government,” the letter said. It also said only two MEMU rakes will be provided during the current financial year while 7 rakes will be provided in 2018-2019.
Just a week ago, Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said that four MEMU trains will roll out by December-end. It now looks like only two of them will be ready by then.
Deputy General Manager and Chief Public Relations Officer of South Western Railway, E Vijaya said that two rakes will be readied by December. “We will run them on routes with heavy traffic. We are yet to identify them,” she said.
Sanjeev Dyammannanavar of Praja.in, who had been demanding a suburban network for the city, said, “It is a big step for suburban rail and a long-pending demand of Bengalureans. We will get MEMU rakes soon and more suburban services will be run.”