MoS for Railways V Somanna announces new MEMU train between Karnataka's Tumakuru and Yeshwantpur

Tumakuru: Union Minister of State for Railways V Somanna announced on Sunday the launch of new Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) train service between Bengaluru and Tumakuru in the next 15 days. 

This will be among the three new MEMU trains planned in the state. The train will leave Tumakuru at 9 am every day and reach the Yeshwantpur station in Bengaluru at 10 am. In the return direction, it will leave Yeshwantpur at 6 pm and reach Tumakuru at 7 pm. 

A total of 1,500 people can travel in this train, the minister told a press conference here. 

Approval has been given for installing automatic railway signalling at a cost of Rs 220 crore on the Bengaluru-Tumakuru-Arsikere stretch, in a bid to enhance the capacity of the line, Somanna said. 

The project has been designed to cater to the growth over the next 30 years in the Bengaluru-Tumakuru region, he said.

A total of 61 stations, including Tumakuru, were being upgraded in the state under the Amrit Bharat scheme. The Tumakuru station would be redeveloped at a cost of Rs 118 crore, the minister said. 

He said he had appealed to the state chief secretary to send a proposal to the Centre over naming the Tumakuru station after Shivakumara Swami and the Kyatsandra station as the Siddaganga Mutt station, following demands from many quarters. Pending dues to the tune of Rs 691 crore for the copra purchased by the Nafed centre would be released in the next three days, Somanna said.