Additional shunting lines would easerail traffic at City stn

The addition of two more shunting lines at the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna railway station would put an end to inordinate signal delays for the trains coming from the Cantonment station.

Nearly 70 inbound and outbound trains run on the two main lines in a day, with  many   trains like the Karnataka Express, Karwar Express, Udyan and Lalbagh Express being shunted to the pit lines for maintenance before the next trip.

Until now, the trains were taken to the shunting lines on the tracks at the Kino theatre bridge, forcing inbound trains from Cantonment to wait for clearance. The Railways had bought three acres from the BBMP and began building shunting lines in 2013. It recently concluded the works.

"Sometimes, the trains are made to wait for 30 minutes to ensure that the tracks are clear," said Krishna Prasad of the Karnataka Railway Vedike. "There will be no need to wait with the advent of the new shunting lines."  

The Railways has asked the BBMP to give 10 acres of the Binny Mill land to build additional shunting lines to reduce congestion at the KSR station.

"The shunting lines would also help the forthcoming suburban rail project. So, the government should immediately transfer the land to the Railways to help start the building process soon," Prasad said.