Karnataka - Mysore   

Railways urged to extend train services to Mettupalyam

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

First run: The Mysore-Nanjangud passenger train on its inaugural journey in Mysore on Monday.

MYSORE: The three new platforms at the city railway station will be thrown open in a couple of months to the public. This was disclosed by C.H. Vijayashankar, MP, at the inauguration of the Mysore-Nanjangud broad gauge line and passenger train, here on Monday.

Mr. Vijayashankar, who is a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways, urged the Centre to expedite the track doubling work between Mysore and Bangalore and upgrade the Central Railway Workshop at Ashokapuram here.

Mr. Vijayashankar said the Ministry of Railways should upgrade the Nanjangud railway station and overcome the hurdles in laying a double track near a heritage site at Srirangapatna.

He also urged the Railways to take up the long-pending demand for extending train services from Chamarajnagar up to Mettupalyam in Tamil Nadu. He said the connectivity would result in widespread industrial development in the region.

Mr. Vijayashankar appealed to the Ministry to open reservation counters in prominent locations in the city to ease the rush at the booking counters.

He said the broad gauge passenger services between Mysore and Nanjangud would benefit tourists and industrial workers. The Railways should reconsider the demand for rescheduling the train timings, he added.

Mr. Vijayashankar said the demand for extending Hampi Express till Mysore has been put before the Railways. He said tourists would benefit as the two heritage centres would be connected.

He said he had urged the South Western Railway to resume appointment of group “D” employees. The process had been halted following widespread protests demanding reservation for Kannadigas.

“We are demanding a provision that aspirants should write the test in Kannada,” he said.

H.S. Shankaralinge Gowda, MLA, urged the Railways to provide reservation for Kannadigas and warned of agitations if their demands were not considered favourably.

Tanveer Sait and Satyanarayana, MLAs, and Shivanna, MP, also spoke.

Earlier, the General Manager of South Western Railway, Praveen Kumar, spoke on the Railway projects undertaken in the State.

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