There are plans afoot to augment the capacity of Mysuru railway station by laying new lines to enable operation of additional trains to cater to the projected growth in passenger traffic.
However, given the paucity of land as Mysuru railway station is landlocked, authorities are exploring the possibility of expansion towards the railway colony by demolishing the old quarters and service buildings. As per this line of thought, the residential quarters of railway staff will be relocated.
The authorities have floated a Request For Proposal (RFP) for providing architectural and technical consultancy for a feasibility study, master planning, urban designing, engineering and preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for integrated re-development of Mysuru Railway Station.
The move stems from the imperatives of enhancing the existing rail infrastructure given the saturation and capacity constraints of the existing railway station, which handles nearly 100 passenger services each day.
The railways were forced to explore the option of demolishing the old living quarters and reclaim the land as there is a stalemate over the land acquisition exercise for the new terminal at Naganahalli on the outskirts of Mysuru. The cost of the project was pegged at ₹789.29 crore in 2018-19, but has now escalated. The key issues pertain to acquisition of 380 acres of which 165 acres are required to commence the civil works.
The Karnataka Government has stated clearly that it will only facilitate the acquisition, and the railways have to bear the cost.
Divisional Railway Manager Rahul Agarwal said that if the impasse is not resolved, they may have to look at expanding in the direction of the railway colony.
“The existing quarters are very old with some nearing 100 years. The quarters can be rebuilt elsewhere, and the reclaimed land could be used for capacity expansion to meet the future requirements of Mysuru,” he said.
The existing station building itself will not be touched or altered given its heritage status, he added.
Sources said railways can reclaim up to 150 acres of land by demolishing the service building and about 315 living quarters. Incidentally, the first phase of the Naganahalli project also required about 165 acres.
Mysuru MP Pratap Simha has approached Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw and sought his intervention to resolve the Naganahalli impasse. He has also sought additional funding for land acquisition given the importance of the project, which was listed among 27 critical infrastructure projects of the railways across India.
