Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw speaking after inspecting works at Bengaluru Cantonment station on Saturday. Union Minister of State for Railways V Somanna (left) and MP P C Mohan are also seen.
Credit: DH photo/S K Dinesh
Bengaluru: Bengaluru-Mysuru and Bengaluru-Tumakaru railway routes will soon see Namo Bharat Rapid Rail services as they fall within the "ideal" 150-200 km distance, Union Railways Minister announced on Saturday.
Large-scale production of the trains will begin soon after the two rapid rail trains -- New Delhi to Meerut and Ahmedabad to Bhuj -- complete running for a year, he added.
He was addressing the media at the Bengaluru Cantonment railway station after conducting a window trailing inspection of the railway line between the Kempegowda International Airport railway station halt and the Bengaluru Cantonment station, with the Minister of State for Railways V Somanna.
"I request Somanna to work with the Airports Authority and try to take the railway line as close as possible to the airport. Then, we will do the railway line doubling from airport up to Yelahanka so that a lot of capacity will be created," he said.
This, along with the metro line and the suburban railway project, will offer three options to commuters moving from and to the city from the airport. This could mean that the railway line from the Cantonment station might be slightly realigned to take it closer to the departure gate of the airport.
The Amrit Bharat train, which was launched in January this year, is "also doing very well", noted Vaishnaw, with more than 100 per cent occupancy on all trips. "Now, we are going to start large-scale production of Amrit Bharat trains. Whatever we have learnt from the first two trains, we are going to implement in Amrit Bharat version 2.0," he said.
The Vande Bharat sleeper train built in BEML, Bengaluru is being tested and will be deployed soon after completion, he added.
The minister reviewed the redevelopment work at the Cantonment station, where an 18,000 sq metre area is being created, with underground parking to accommodate 250 two-wheelers and cars each. He also inspected the quadrupling of the Bengaluru-Krishnarajapuram-Whitefield railway line.
Vaishnaw added that the detailed project report (DPR) for the circular rail will be completed by December-end.