suburban rail South Western Railways Bengaluru Binny Mills Bangalore KEY SUGGESTIONS Automatic signaling between Bengaluru City and Mandya Additional loop lines at Chennasandra Automatic signaling between Yeswanthpur-Banaswadi -Baiyyappanahalli Intermediate Block Signaling (IBS) between Chennasandra-Yelahanka By Reya MehrotraFormer general manager suggests low-cost measures to boostnetwork in cityA retired general manager ofhas suggested various steps, inlcuding low-cost measures, to improve the suburban rail connectivity in the city.Venkateswaran Anand, the ex-manager, wrote to General Manager of SW Railways Ajay Kumar Singh, asking the Railways to focus on short-term plans to improve the existing suburban rail connectivity.Some of his short-term low-cost solutions include additional loop line at Malur, increased speed of trains running at 100 km/h to 110 km/h, converting Bellandur into a crossing station, urgent doubling of Baiyyappanahalli-Yeshwanthpur section and additional loop lines at Hebbal and Banaswadi.South Western Railways officials gave him a detailed reply. South Western Railways said it has commissioned doubling/electrification of three prominent lines – Lottegollahalli-Yelahanka, Chennasandra-Yelahanka andCity-Mysore which will become reality this year. The Railways has also sanctioned doubling and electrification of Yeshwanthpur-Banaswadi-Baiyyappanahalli-Chennasandra line and Baiyyappanahalli-Hosur line and quadrupling of Bengaluru Cantonment-Whitefield Line, for which work will commence shortly.Apart from this, Baiyyappanahalli coaching terminal and automatic signaling between Bengaluru City-Cantonment-Whitefield-Bangarpet has also been sanctioned. At Rs 17,000 crore, the construction of elevated corridors for augmentation of line capacity has also been sanctioned.Anand, who is also pitching for a station and a platform at Binny Mills, said, “Bengaluru suburban railways have been completely neglected by the state and the Central government. I have data that says that the Northern Railways have been getting the highest amount of fund while the others are ignored. When 9.5 acres of land acquisition athad to be done, the Railway Board refused saying that the land is too expensive but a small piece of land in New Delhi was acquired by the railways at Rs 196 crores. Binny Mills is an important place where a station must come up or at least they must do the cabling at Binny Mills if they can’t build a station. Elevated track is a far-fetched dream right now but first we must focus on easing day-to-day commute of the middle class and weaker section of the society.”He said the congestedCity Station will be decongested with automatic signaling and adding of new train services after doubling of lines. Sanjeev Dyamanavar, a regular traveller and activist, said, “The Bengaluru City to Mysore Line has already been helping in the introduction of more train services. Automatic signaling between Bengaluru City-Cantonment-Whitefield-Bangarpet was sanctioned in 2018’s budget and will become a reality in the next two months.It will also bring down pressure on the city railway station. Baiyyappanahalli coaching terminal too will be a reality in the next six months while doubling and quadrupling will take 2-3 years. Intermediate Block Signalling (IBS) between Channasandra and Yelahanka will be completed in 3-6 months once sanctioned by the railway board. Construction of elevated corridors to augment the line capacity will take around 4-6 years. The elevated lines will eliminate the need for land acquisition for rail projects.”

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