Karnataka - Mysore   

Train services on Mysore-Nanjangud section unlikely to resume by year-end

– PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

Delayed project: Gauge conversion work on the Mysore-Nanjangud section is yet to be completed.

MYSORE: Train services on the Mysore-Nanjangud section, now suspended for gauge conversion work, may not resume till the year-end though the Railway Board had stipulated that the work be completed by March 31, 2007.

While the work pertaining to track-laying is almost complete, the signalling system on the stretch has to be reworked. The authorities are thinking of introducing the Multiple Aspect Colour Signalling system in place of the mechanical semaphore-type signals. This may take a considerable amount of time.

Sources in the construction wing of the Railways told The Hindu that it was unlikely that the passenger services could be introduced by the end of this year, as the signalling system was yet to be installed, while civil work, including strengthening and reinforcement of a few bridges on the Mysore-Chamarajanagar stretch, was yet to be completed.

The last meter gauge train on this section operated in the second week of January, following which the authorities shut down all services and the railway stations to take up the gauge conversion work.

The gauge conversion work on the Mysore-Chamarajanagar section is part of the uni-gauge policy introduced by the Railways and the work on this section was approved in 2001. Funds were sanctioned for the purpose in the subsequent railway budgets. However, it was only in the 2005 railway budget the project received a fillip when it was sanctioned Rs. 45 crore. The work is being taken up in two phases and the first phase entailed gauge conversion between Mysore and Nanjangud, while the second phase will be from Nanjangud to Chamarajanagar.

The railway authorities had expressed confidence that the stretch between Mysore and Chamarajanagar would be ready by the end of 2007. But going by the pace of work, it is unlikely that the stretch can be thrown open for passenger or freight traffic in the near future. For, the major work at Badanakuppe and on an overpass near Madiyala Gate was in progress while the track between Nanjangud and Chamarajanagar was yet to be laid, the sources said.

Though the track had been laid between Mysore and Nanjangud, the work on the railway station at the temple town is yet to be completed and additional facilities, including retiring rooms and other passenger amenities, are being introduced.

The sources said that trains services between Mysore and Nanjangud may be a reality by early 2008. But nothing definite could be said about services from Nanjangud to Chamarajanagar. The cost of the project had been estimated at Rs. 85 crore.

A long-pending demand of the people of the region, gauge conversion work is expected to provide better connectivity to the hinterland of Chamarajanagar to Mysore. This would also provide the region direct connectivity to Bangalore and beyond.

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