BENGALURU: Constraints at railway teminals is the reason why trains are late at stations in Bengaluru Railway Division, Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru Railway Divisiion, R S S Saxena conceded here on Tuesday. Briefing reporters at the DRM office, he said, “The sectional capacity in the division is high. Over the years, trains have been introduced without any additional increase in infrastructure.”
Train come on time but the delay begins when they enter Bangalore Division, he said. He said trains entering from Jolarpet side run on time up to Baiyappanahalli but not after that. From the Mysuru side, they are on time up to Kengeri. Trains have been running as late as 45 minutes for the past few months.
Another top official in the Operations Division told Express that Railway officials were forced to put blocks enroute in order to carry out maintenance work, which also causes delays.
Referring to the recent meeting held between Niti Aayog officials and top state government officials, Saxena said a proposal to provide Railways with land near Binny Mills area has been sent to the state government. “If trains are stabled here, this will help us decongest railway tracks. Most trains have 21 to 24 coaches and require 540 to 550 metre space for stabling. We have only 350 metre land available and have requested for more land,” he added. Connectivity to Metro was also discussed during the meeting.
The DRM also said that a proposal to carry out doubling, electrification and automatic signalling work for the 47.2 km distance between Baiyappanahalli and Hosur has been sent to the Railway Board to increase the infrastructure. “It is likely be okayed and announced in the next Railway budget,” Saxena said.