Railway budget gives K'taka a short shrift

Karnataka has been largely ignored in the Railway Budget-2006 presented on Friday by the railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in Delhi.

The state had high hopes of securing additional funds to complete the doubling of the Mysore-Bangalore railway line and opening the Bangalore-Mangalore railway line for passenger traffic.

But all it has secured is a few railway linkages and extensions on minor routes in the hinterland of the state. The two new railway connections are Bangalore-Darbhanga Express via. Chennai, Patna (weekly) and Bangalore (Yashwantpur) to Ajmer.

Reacting to the railway budget, Bangalore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCIC) president Ananth Koppar said, "The schemes to attract a greater share of freight through private-public partnership will allow industry to use the available railway infrastructure optimally."

"Improvement in efficiency of the Railways through better utilisation of existing rolling stock, user-friendly freight operating system and reforms in the railway accounting system are all conceived as a pre-requisite to commercialisation of the Railways," he added.

Giving utmost priority to the technological upgradation and modernisation in every field of the working of the Railways and providing modern facilities like ATM, cyber cafes among others in all major railway stations is highly appreciated, the BCIC said.

The popular train connection between Bangalore and Chennai, the Brindavan Express, got a mention for getting world-class passenger amenities and interiors.

The extension announced are Mysore-Kumbakonam Express to Mayiladuturai (after gauge conversion), Bangalore-Bijapur Express to Bagalkot (after gauge conversion), Sholapur-Bijapur Passenger to Bagalkot (after gauge conversion) and Bangalore-Visakhapatnam Prashanti Express to Bhubneswar.

Frequencies of some popular trains have also been increased like the Bangalore-Ernakulam Express from weekly to bi-weekly, Belgaum-Miraj Passenger from five days in a week to six days a week, Belgaum-Miraj Passenger from four days in a week to six days in a week, Bangalore-Guwahati Express from bi-weekly to tri-weekly.

Railway minister also proposed to re-route the 2649o2650 Karnataka Sampark Kranti Express to run via. Itarsi, Manmad, Pune, Hubli, Arsikere, Yeshwantpur twice a week, covering more areas in Karnataka. Of the target of completing over 1,100 km of gauge conversion, the Mysore-Chamrajnagar railway line also figured.