Union budget: Railways seeks new coaching terminal at Yesvantpur

The Bengaluru Railway Division has proposed a second coaching terminal at Yesvantpur for inclusion in the upcoming Union budget.

BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Railway Division has proposed a second coaching terminal at Yesvantpur for inclusion in the upcoming Union budget.The proposal aims at decongesting passenger traffic in the city by putting in place infrastructure to launch new trains. Other major proposals include automatic signalling between Bengaluru City and Kengeri as well as Yesvantpur and Tumukuru.

The existing coaching terminals at Yesvantpur and Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna railway stations are already saturated, making introduction of new trains impossible.A highly placed railway source said, “We have proposed the setting up of an additional coaching terminal at Yesvantpur at a cost of Rs 119 crore. Since most north-bound trains depart from there, another terminal would help us better connect Bangaluru with the rest of the country.”

Every railway division sends its requirements to its zonal headquarters which in turn sends them to the Centre for inclusion in the Pink Book (documents recording details of projects and funds) of the budget.  Automatic signalling facilitates running of trains much faster as only a gap of 2 km needs to be maintained between trains instead of the 10 km gap that is mandatory if manual signalling is followed.  “To facilitate faster connectivity between Bengaluru and Kengeri, automatic signalling at a cost of Rs 28 crore has been recommended. Similar infrastructure has also been recommended between Yesvantpur and Tumukuru at a cost of Rs 169 crore,” a top official said.

Auto signalling between Kengeri and Mandya as well as Bengaluru and Yesvantpur too have been proposed, he added.Asked about the demands of the South Western Railway Zone as a whole, another official said, “To boost employment in Belagavi district, we have also asked for the approval of our proposal to set up a spare parts factory in Kittur taluk.” The constructions department of the zone has also sought funds for rail doubling projects, the official said.

Asked about the suburban rail project, a senior SWR official said the project was approved in the previous budget. “It awaits the sanctioning of funds which will be done once the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs clears it.”

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