Raghavendra meets Railway Minister; discusses railway works in Shivamogga

Shivamogga Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra met the Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnav in Delhi on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum with regard to railway projects in his constituency, including a new railway line connecting Talaguppa and Hubballi via Sirsi and Tadasa.

In his memorandum, Mr. Raghavendra said the railway board had sanctioned a survey of the new railway line. The survey had been completed by the South Western Railway, and the report had been submitted to the board. He requested the Minister sanction the work in the coming Budget, so that connectivity between Malnad and the north Karnataka region could improve with the new railway line.

Delay in work

Regarding the long-pending Shivamogga-Biruru doubling work, the MP said the project was sanctioned long ago, but it did not take off. However, he stressed the need for taking it up at the earliest, as traffic was expected to go up in the route with the construction of the Shivamogga-Shikaripur-Ranebennur new railway line.

Mr. Raghavendra expressed concern over the pace of the work of the coaching depot at Kotegangur. He wanted the coach depot to be built with facilities to maintain Vande Bharat trains too, and that the work be executed at the earliest.

New railway line

On the Shivamogga-Shikaripura-Ranebennur new railway line, the MP said the work had been divided into two phases. The land acquisition for the first phase of Shivamogga-Shikaripur had been completed, and South Western Railway had fixed the agency to take up the work. He appealed to the Railway Minister to ensure the work was completed as soon as possible. Further, with regard to the second phase, he said, the land acquisition was going on and suggested the Minister reserve sufficient funds in the budget for the second phase.

He also placed a demand for a new railway line connecting Shivamogga and Mangaluru via Sringeri. The project was sanctioned earlier and did not move further. It would help provide connectivity between coastal Karnataka and the Malnad region, he said.

Other requests

The MP also requested for an upgrade of the railway station at Bhadravathi, the restoration of Shivamogga-Renigunta-Chennai (06223/24) bi-weekly special train, introduction of Yeshvanthpur-Shivamogga-Yeshvanthpura Vande Bharath Express and conversion Bengaluru-Shivamogga special train (16581/16582) into a regular daily train.

He appealed to the Minister to provide stoppage of Mysuru-Bengaluru-Shivamogga-Talaguppa (16227/16228) train at Harnahalli and stoppage of trains Dadar Central-Tirunelveli-Dadar Central (Weekly) and Ernakulam-Hazrat Nizamuddin (Daily) (12617/12618) at Mookambika Station in Baindur for the benefit of devotees visiting the pilgrimage centre.

Similarly, he sought the stoppage of Mathsyagandha Super Fast Express (12619/20) and Panchaganga Express (16595/96) at Senapura in Udupi district.