BENGALURU: Twenty-one years after former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda proposed a shorter route between Bengaluru and Hassan via Shravanabelagola, the first train to run on the 167-km rail line was flagged off from Yesvantpur railway station at 11.44 am on Sunday.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Deve Gowda and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated the Yesvantpur-Hassan Superfast Intercity Express from platform one.
Sunday marked the commissioning of the final section of this Bengaluru-Hassan project: the 111-km line between Nelamangala and Shravanabelagola. The first phase of 42 km was commissioned in 2006 between Hassan and Shravanabelagola and the second phase of 14 km was inaugurated in 2013 between Chikkabanavara and Nelamangala.
Gowda said, “I am filled with great pain that it took so long to get this line entirely commissioned. In the meantime, the Centre has seen 14 railway ministers.”
Lauding PM Narendra Modi, the Hassan MP said, “I have called on the PM three to four times and asked him to expedite the project. For the first time, a sizeable amount of Rs 165 crore was sanctioned for the project by the Centre in 2014-2015.”
“Only if the infrastructure is in place can revenue be generated,” he said.
Stating that Karnataka was the “worst sufferer” when it came to railway projects, Gowda said only 270-km of railway track has been doubled since 1991. “It has taken 18 years for the Mysuru-Bengaluru doubling project to be completed,” he said.
Other projects launched
Yesvantpur station gets three lifts and an escalator
Passenger subway and two lifts at Mysuru station
High speed Wi-Fi facility at Yesvantpur, Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna station and Mysuru railway stations.