Vaishnaw himself took the train from the airport to Cantt station where he reviewed the progress of ongoing projects and the planned ones. The journey, he said, took 35 minutes for him and when commissioned in a few months’ time, may take five extra minutes.
The shortest route to the airport from the Cantt railway station is 32 kms, but the traffic jams make the travel time unpredictable. MoS (railways) and Tumakuru Lok Sabha member V Somanna would be leading the project of taking the railway station right into the sprawling airport. Last year he inspected the airport line project and most of the work planned had been done, the Union Minister said.
At the Cantt station, he reviewed the progress of the redevelopment work going on at Cantt as well as Yeshwantpur railway stations. The redevelopment at Cantt, the minister said, would result in creation of 18,000 square metres of new land near tracks.
The two stations in Bengaluru are among 1137 stations currently being modernized in India in the world’s largest such redevelopment challenge. Such projects used to take decades, the union minister said, and added that this year 1050 stations would be ready and inaugurated.
CIRCULAR RAILWAY:
The railway board would finalise the detailed project report (DPR) for circular rail for Bengaluru by December. The railways conceptualized the circular railway for Bengaluru last year with seven spokes connecting the city. The lines would connect Bengaluru with surrounding towns and cities like Tumakuru and Mysuru and integrate them closely with Bengauru.
Most people living in those cities and working in Bengaluru can commute daily and get back home faster and, added in a light hearted comment, ‘enjoy their dosa.’
The railway ministry, Vaishnaw said, had a capital expenditure of $29 billion last year and constructed 5300 km of new tracks, which is more than the entire rail network of Switzerland.