New Bengaluru-Hassan rail line to be commissioned next week.

The 110-km Nelamangala-Shravanabelagola railway line, part of the new 166-km Bengaluru-Hassan line, is set to be commissioned by South Western Railway (SWR) on February 28.

This follows authorisation given by A.K. Manoharan, Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, who inspected the line and conducted speed trials between February 6 and 10. Ashok Gupta, chief administrative officer, Construction, SWR, told The Hindu that the commissioner on Monday issued authorisation to run passenger trains with a maximum speed of 80 kmph.

With this, the hope of the people of Hassan and coastal regions for the shortest rail route to Bengaluru has come true. The project had been announced by Deve Gowda way back in 1996, but the work progressed at a snail’s pace, partly owing to non-availability of land and mostly because of meagre fund allocation by the Railways.

In 2010, the then Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa decided to share the cost of ongoing as well as new Railway projects to sped up the work. More funds from the Railways came when D.V. Sadananda Gowda was Railway Minister.

SWR’s chief public relations officer E. Vijaya said the commissioning would be done with a trial run of a passenger train on the section on February 28. The formal inauguration would be done depending upon the dates acceptable for the dignitaries.

Former Prime Minister and Hassan Lok Sabha member H.D. Deve Gowda will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the new Hassan-Bengaluru line.

“The Railway Minister (Suresh Prabhu) desires that the line be opened by the Prime Minister and [has] requested me to extend a formal invitation. I’m going to Delhi tomorrow and try to speak the Prime Minister or intimate this to his office,” Mr. Deve Gowda told The Hindu recently.

Immediately after coming to power, Mr. Modi had promised to complete the line on priority; it still took about three years. “I am not going to blame anyone for the inordinate delay of 22 years for the completion of the line,” said Mr. Deve Gowda, who had sanctioned the line when he was PM.

THE HINDU