Railways to step up Mysore track-doubling work

2011-12-15T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hopes to finish it by 2014; Tipu’s armory to be shifted

Most of the work on the doubling of the railway line connecting Bangalore and Mysore will be completed next year (2012-13), with railway officials saying that trials will begin as early as March 2012.

“Of the 139km, tracks have been laid for more than 65km—from Bangalore to Chennapatna (55km) and from Mysore to Nagenahalli (10km). By March next year,we hope to begin trials. Securing the safety certificate and other necessary clearances will take another three to four months,” a railway official said.

He said that by June 2012,the railways hopes to complete another 20km from Chennapatna to Settihalli and from Mathura to Hannakare. He said most of the work would be completed by June 2013 and work on 10km of tracks near Srirangapatna would be completed by the end of 2013 or early 2014.Although railway officials do not call it a delay, work at Srirangapatna will be completed only at the end because of the shifting of Tipu Sultan’s armoury, which had almost halted this `530-crore project.The travelling time to Mysore will be cut by at least half once the project is completed.The official added that they are building two bridges across Cauvery river, which is bound to take time.For the work to progress, he said Tipu Sultan’s armoury has to be shifted.The railways has already allotted land for the purpose and the armoury would be shifted next year, he added.

“The delay in completion of the tracks at Srirangapatna will not pose a problem for commuters wishing to use the double tracks. We already have an existing single track at Srirangapatna. While work is being completed on the double track, this track will be used,” the official said, adding that in case of a train coming from the opposite direction,there will be a signal at Pandavapura, where it may have to wait for clearance.

Process of land acquisition

According to the railways, an estimated 120 acres is required for the project. However,only 40 acres has been acquired so far. “The work is going on nevertheless,”said the official.“We are not going to wait until we acquire all the land to complete the work. We are continuing with the work wherever land is available,” he added.

Another problem faced by the railways is regarding compensation for the acquired land.“Our endeavour is to resolve the issue with the land owners and provide proper compensation. But in this regard,I think we will overshoot our budget by at least `20 crore-`40 crore.”

The shifting of the armoury, too, has resulted in unforeseen expenditure. “We had estimated that this would cost us about `1 crore. But according to current estimates,it could cost at least `6crore-`7 crore,” he said.

Bridge at Srirangapatna

The existing single-track bridge at Srirangapatna will be demolished and a double track will be laid. “The existing bridge has outlived its use,” said the official. “Even when the railway line was converted to broad gauge, we had strengthened the existing track. Considering that in another two to three years we will have to redo the tracks, we have decided to build a new one during this project itself,” he said, adding: “Although there is an addition of `25 crore to the expenses right now, it is inevitable and will save us some money for doing it now.”

Mysore City Chronicle

Railways to step up Mysore track-doubling work