BENGALURU: In a major relief for
suburban rail passengers, the
railway ministry on Wednesday sanctioned quadrupling of tracks between Bengaluru Cantonment and Whitefield stations.
The quadrupling project, with a provision of two additional lines (one on either side of the existing two lines) from Bengaluru Cantonment to Whitefield will cost Rs 492.87 crore.
The project of quadrupling between Bengaluru –Whitefield was proposed during 1997-98, but was delayed for want of land.
Railway officials said they would soon take up the project and expect it to be completed within two-three years. The quadrupling will benefit rail passengers particularly from the IT hub of Whitefield area.
Presently, 146 and 94 trains are running from Bengaluru and Yesvantpur stations respectively, of which 122 trains are suburban services.
“KSR Bengaluru-Whitefield railway line is now congested and its line capacity utilization has exceeded 100%. A major portion of suburban trains are running in KSR Bengaluru-Whitefield section,” said a senior railway official.
The 25-km stretch will have six stations including Bengaluru Cantonment, Bengaluru East, Baiyyapannahalli, Krishnarajapuram , Hoodi and Whitefield . It is also expected to benefit 62,000 daily passengers in this section.
In addition to this, railways has also sanctioned doubling of track between Yeshwantpur – Byappanahalli – Channasandra (21.70 km) at a cost of Rs 169.64 crore and doubling of tracks between Byappanahalli – Hosur (48 km) at a cost of Rs 375.66 crore. A total of Rs 15 crore has also been sanctioned for de-bottlenecking works in the congested KSR Bengaluru station to facilitate introduction of more services.
These projects are expected to augment the line capacity in the sections for running additional train services including suburban trains.
Representative image
