Title - Three new railway projects by Mar 2013

The work on laying down railway tracks for three major projects would be completed by March 2013, chief minister Jagadish Shettar and Union minister of state for railways KH Muniyappa announced on Wednesday. The projects have been taken up jointly by the Centre and state government by sharing 50% of the cost each. The new projects are Kottur-Harihar (` 326 crore), Kolar-Chikkaballapur (`438 crore) and Kadur-Chikkamaglur (`622 crore). They said that at present, 14 new projects in the state have been taken up by the Union government. The total length of railway track is 1,430 km and the cost involved is `5,829 crore. Besides this, after April 1, 2012, another four projects have been given a green signal by the Centre, including Whitefield-Kolar railway lane. Muniyappa said Tippu Sultan’s armoury would have to be shifted to complete the Bangalore-Mysore track doubling work. “The state has given permission, but the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is yet to give permission. Two-thirds of the structure is underground and one third of the building is above the ground. Centuries-old stones, weighing 800 tonnes, have to be relocated to a place that is 150 metres away. Its a herculean task to do the shifting without damage. Machines are being imported from the UK for the purpose,” he said. Muniyappa promised that he would act soon to provide railway service to Nelamangala from Bangalore. Shettar said the state government was facilitating speedy implementation of Metro work across the city.

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