BANGALORE: The South Western Railway (SWR) will complete doubling of track between Bangalore and Tumkur by March 2007 and that of Bangalore and Ramanagaram by June 2007.

Stating this at an interactive session organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) here on Tuesday, Divisional Railway Manager, Bangalore Division, South Western Railway, Mahesh Mangal said electrification of the Railway network in Bangalore area would be completed by March 2007.

Projects

He said while the gauge conversion work was under progress between Kolar and Chikkaballapur, several other projects, such as doubling of Ramanagaram and Mysore line, construction of coaching terminal at Byappanahalli, construction of a freight terminal at Malur and modernisation of stations at Bangalore City, Bangalore Cantonment and Yeshwantapur were in the pipeline.

Schemes

Senior Divisional Commercial Manager S. Gagarin in his presentation drew the attention of FKCCI members towards several incentive schemes being offered by the railways for freight movement.

One of the members drew the attention of the officials that the two-lane Railway under bridge on Old Madras Road near Kissan factory i Bangalore had been a traffic bottleneck.

Though the stretch of NH 4 had been made six-lane, the underbridge hindered traffic movement into the city, he said.

Due to the bottleneck, many prospective investors, who intended to set up units in and around Hoskote, had migrated to other States, he claimed.

Mr. Mangal said that widening of the under bridge depended on the funding by the State Government.

In his introductory address, FKCCI president R.C. Purohit said the absence of double tracks in Karnataka's railway network had placed the State in a disadvantageous position.

Industries hit

Absence of an extensive railway network had hampered industrial growth in the State.

He urged SWR to speed up doubling work on Bangalore-Mysore line.

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