B’luru-M’luru new route: Safety clearance pending, to be ready by March

BENGALURU: Elaborating on the land problems which delayed the project, Reddy said, “There was an issue of 14 acres of land in Thannasandra and Narasandra and neighbouring villages in Ramanagara district which we required.

The 2013 Land Acquisition Act was also passed and we had to pay a higher compensation for the property acquired. Finally, everything fell through.”

Asked about the exact time period, Reddy said that safety clearance needs to be taken for the route and commercial operations can begin anytime before March 2017.
Of the 167-km railway route, 56 kms has been completed and is operational.

“The-14 km between Chikkabanavar and Nelamangala is already functioning and so is the 42km distance between Shravanabelagola and Hassan.”
It is the 111 km between Solur and Shravanabelagola that will be commissioned soon, the Chief
Engineer said.

Asked why it would still take 10.5 hours, Reddy says, “Once the train crosses Hassan, the Western Ghat section still needs to be traversed. Trains can only be run less than 40 kmph for the 55-km distance between Sakleshpur and Kukke Subramanya due to the steep gradient and sharp curves. This ends up slowing down the train.”