Title - Three railway projects to be completed by March 2013

Three railway projects in the State will be completed by March 2013.The three projects are Kolar-Chickballapur (Rs. 438 crore), Kottur-Harihar (Rs. 326 crore) and Chikmagalur-Kadur (Rs. 262 crore), Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and Minister of State for Railways K.H. Muniyappa told presspersons here on Wednesday after a two-hour meeting with senior officials of the State government and the Railways.Completion of these projects had been delayed on account of hurdles in land acquisition. Delayed acquisition of land led to escalation of the project cost. The government has acquired 2,960 acres of land for various projects in the State. The cost escalation would be less than 20 per cent if the project is completed in a five-year period, they said.Mr. Shettar and Mr. Muniyappa said the State government and the Railways have taken up 14 projects on cost-sharing basis (50:50) and the State would contribute Rs. 5,829 crore to complete 1,430 km of railway line in the 14 projects. Mr. Shettar said the government has sanctioned its share of Rs. 100 crore for four projects: Kolar-Chickballapur (Rs. 20 crore), Hassan-Bangalore (Rs. 20 crore), Bagalkot-Kudachi (Rs. 40 crore) and Tumkur-Rayadurga (Rs. 20 crore).The Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), Bangalore, has prepared a report on laying a railway line between Talaguppa and Honnavar. Since environmental issues were involved in the completion of the project, a meeting would be convened in Delhi and IISc. scientists would be asked to present the report. Union Minister for Railways Mukul Roy would visit Bangalore next month to lay the foundation stone for various projects in the State, Mr. Muniyappa said.

Ashok Kumar Mital, General Manager, South-Western Railway, said the Railways had been undertaking gauge conversion of 110-120 km a year in the State. Efforts would be made to scale up work to 120 km–150 km a year and later to 200 km a year.

Issues related to construction of Bangalore Metro lines, construction of overpasses and underpassesin the city were also discussed in the meeting, Mr. Shettar said.