Title - Authorities seek more land for expansion of Mysore station

The Railway authorities have sought additional land for expansion of the Mysore station which is emerging as a major passenger hub in the region.This is expected to augment the capacity of the station to handle additional trains, while decongesting the main concourse area.Divisional Railway Manager Vinod Kumar told The Hindu that a formal letter seeking additional land has been submitted to the local authorities, including the Deputy Commissioner, and Mysore MP A.H. Vishwanath.The land identified by the Railway authorities is adjacent to the Multi Functional Complex and is spread over 1.5 acres. It is presently held by the Devaraj Urs Trust and has remained vacant for decades.“If the land is transferred to the Railways, we can shift the existing parking lot on the station premises and construct a multi-storeyed parking facility there. The additional space created by shifting the parking lot could be utilised for creating facilities new for pit lines to shunt additional trains,” said Mr. Kumar.Railway authorities are pinning hopes on acquiring the land for decongestion of the Mysore station which is completely landlocked, with no scope for expansion. The move to acquire land for expanding the station is reckoned to be important in view of the growth in passenger traffic originating from Mysore. This is expected to grow consequent to the completion of the track-doubling work and electrification between Bangalore and Mysore by next year.Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Anup Dayanand Sadhu said the goods shed yard was located near the Divisional Railway Office building in the 1980s and was shifted to the station outskirts and is now called the Mysore New Goodshed Terminal. This helped create space at the station and led to the creation of new pit lines for coach maintenance.The infrastructure then helped in the growth of the railways in the region. Likewise, if the land adjacent to the MFC was transferred to the railways and the parking lot shifted, additional pit lines for berthing of rakes and their maintenance could be created which would serve the city’s future requirements, he added.The city railway station handles more than 40 pairs of trains a day, and this has been increasing over the years. The station, which handles about 40,000 to 50,000 passengers a day, sees a surge during Dasara when the traffic goes up to nearly 70,000 per day. However, with the completion of track-doubling work, the authorities plan to run a train to Bangalore every hour, and the passenger traffic is expected to register a significant jump.Incidentally, Mr. Vishwanath submitted a wish list to the Railway Minister on the eve of the rail budget seeking permission for a second railway station for Mysore, as the current facility was saturated with no scope for expansion.However, a greenfield railway station is perceived to be impractical as no land is available close to the city, while changing the existing track alignment to connect to the new station has been ruled out.Sources said in addition to shifting the parking lot, the authorities are also toying with the idea of shifting the existing pit lines at the city station to Belagola, and creating new ones at Ashokapuram to pave way for creating additional platforms for Mysore.At present, Mysore has six platforms but shifting the pit lines could ease space for two more. The demand for increasing frequency of trains from Mysore to Bangalore, Hassan, Hubli-Dharwad and Nanjangud hinges on capacity augmentation, the sources said.