Direct train to Vaishnodevi soon: Malikarjun Kharge

Railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge and former chief minister and Bidar MP Dharam Singh at the launch of the Solapur-Yeshwanthpur tri-weekly express in Gulbarga on Tuesday.

Gulbarga: Pilgrims from the state will be able to travel directly by train to the Mata Vaishnodevi temple in Jammu and Kashmir once work on laying the 80 km long track  between Udhampur and Khatra stations is completed in a month, according to railway minister Malikarjun Kharge.

Flagging off a daily train service between Solapur and Yeshwantpur here on Tuesday, he said a direct train would be introduced between Bengaluru and Khatra station once the track work was completed .

The minister also revealed that a new train would be introduced between Bengaluru and the Ajmer dargah in Rajashthan via Guntakal and Gulbarga for the benefit of devotees.

Explaining the various initiatives taken by his ministry to improve train services, Kharge lamented that the state government was not showing enough interest in strengthening Karnataka’s rail network.

“Many states are pestering us for various projects. But here we have to repeatedly plead with the state government (to take advantage of the benefits on offer)” he said,  requesting former legislator from Gadag, D.R. Patil, who was on the dais, to cooperate with the ministry on  the proposed Wadi-Gadag railway line. “If Mr Patil help us in getting 40 to 50 acres of land and if the state government meets 50 per cent of the cost estimated at Rs 2,600 crore, we can simultaneously start the work from both ends,” he added.

While observing that the  recession had affected the railways too, the minister said his ministry could fail to meet its targets  as a result. “Although revenue collection  is higher than last year’s, I  doubt  we ‘ll be able to achieve the targets. We have not been able to give thrust to some projects In view of revenue shortfall,” he added.