Shivamogga Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra held a meeting on Monday with Sanjeev Kishore, General Manager of the South Western Railway, and other senior officers in Hubballi regarding the railway projects in Shivamogga.
Mr. Raghavendra reviewed the progress of ongoing projects and instructed the officers to complete them as per the schedule, according to a press release issued by the MP’s office on Tuesday.
Mr. Raghavendra had sought upgrade of railway stations at Talaguppa, Shivamogga city, and Sagar. Following his appeals, the Railway Ministry allocated ₹22.5 crore for Talaguppa, ₹19.28 crore for Shivamogga, ₹21.1 crore for Sagar, and ₹33 crore for goods yard in Shivamogga, under the Amrit Bharat Yojna in the 2023-24 Budget.
As per the plan, the railway stations would get granite flooring on platforms, digital signals, beautification of station premises, foot-over-bridges, improved lighting, an announcement system and other necessary works. The officers said that facilities at the goods yard would be upgraded so that transportation of fertilisers, food grains, cement and steel would not be a problem.
The Railway Ministry announced the Shivamogga-Shikaripur-Ranebennur new railway line at a cost of ₹1,200 crore in the 2019-20 Budget. The acquisition of land for the first phase of Shivamogga-Shikaripur (46 km) had been completed. The contractor had been identified to take up the work. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the project during his visit to Shivamogga on February 27. The work would commence within a week and be completed by December 2025, the officers informed the Lok Sabha member.
The General Manager said that the railway over bridge/ railway under bridge being constructed at Kadadakatte (Bhadravathi), Savalanga Road (Shivamogga) and Kashipura Gate (Shivamogga) would be completed by December 2023, October 2023, and June 2023, respectively. The department had got the land required for a coaching depot at Kote Ganguru near Shivamogga. The tender process for the project, worth ₹100 crore had been completed. It would be completed by June 2024, they said. The survey report on the proposed Talaguppa-Tadas-Honnavara-Sirsi railway line has been submitted to the railway board.
During the meeting, Mr. Raghavendra appealed to the officers to ensure the Mysuru-Talaguppa-Mysuru express trains stop at Arasalu and Haranahalli stations. He also demanded Onde Bharat train services between Shivamogga and Bengaluru. The officers responded to the demands positively.
H.M. Dinesh, Chief Passenger Transportation Manager PTM, Sridhar Murthy of Infrastructure Development Department, Santosh Hegde, Secretary to the GM, Ashish Pandey, Deputy GM, and Anand Bharati, Chief Engineer of Mysuru, attended the meeting.
