Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday announced that a premium train service connecting Bengaluru and Mumbai will begin shortly, citing ongoing line doubling and record levels of railway investment in Karnataka. The minister said the enhanced infrastructure capacity would enable the introduction of more services on key intercity routes.
Karnataka has received an allocation of Rs 7,748 crore in the current railway budget, which Vaishnaw said is nearly nine times higher than allocations during the Congress-led UPA period. Overall railway investment in the state has reached Rs 52,950 crore. “Massive investment will cover track creation, station redevelopment, safety, announcements, Bengaluru suburban and many new projects in Karnataka,” he told reporters.
Addressing a press conference, Vaishnaw stated, “Very soon, we’ll be starting a premium train service from Bengaluru to Mumbai. Tejasvi ji (Bengaluru South MP) had come for that, and many other requests had also come. Many sections are getting doubled, so very soon we’ll have many more services.”
On the proposed Vande Bharat service between Bengaluru and Mangaluru, the minister said electrification-related testing and certifications are currently underway. “Now, the testing, certifications are going on for electrification. As soon as those processes are completed, we’ll share with you the details very soon,” he said.
Vaishnaw also addressed land acquisition challenges, noting that the Centre continues to work with the state government under a cooperative federalism framework. “We continuously pursue the state government for land acquisition in many projects. We believe in cooperative federalism… It’s important that we all have the common objective of working for the people and our states,” he said.
Referring to proposed high-speed rail corridors linking Bengaluru with Chennai and Hyderabad, announced in the Union Budget, Vaishnaw said the projects would bring significant regional benefits. “They will become the high-speed diamonds of South India,” he said, adding that groundwork has already progressed and execution would now accelerate.
The minister also highlighted advances in the Bengaluru suburban rail project, stating that designs, tenders and key approvals have been completed, allowing work to move ahead at a faster pace.
Source: Business Standard
