A Vande Bharat high speed train will soon connect Dharwad with Bengaluru, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in Hubballi on Tuesday.
Speaking at the inauguration of the renovated Dharwad Railway Station and in response to a plea by Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi, Mr. Vaishnaw said that the Vande Bharat Express will require electrification of the entire line. “Work is on and it is expected to be completed by February-March 2023. Once that happens, the high speed train can run on the line,” he said.
He said that the Vande Bharat Express is a state-of-the art train with modern facilities and it will considerably reduce travel time. It is the result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of developing India. The train has a capacity to reach speeds from zero to 100 km in 52 seconds and it is a matter of pride that world class trains are being produced by Indian engineers within the country. The sound of the train for those sitting inside it will be just one per cent of what passengers in an aircraft hear, he said.
The Vande Bharat Express train project that started with two trains in 2019 will soon have 75 trains. The two trains have already covered a distance of 18 lakh km.
Mr. Modi is giving a new direction to the development process in all sectors, the Railway Minister said.
He also announced that a road overbridge near Tapovana in Dharwad (Gate No 300) has been sanctioned by the Railway Ministry and that work on it will start soon.
The Railway Minister said that the concerns expressed by environmentalists and other opponents of the Hubballi-Ankola railway line project will be addressed. “I am sure that they will be convinced that the project will be taken up without causing harm to environment,” he said.
“Mr. Joshi is a powerful Minister. He has been speeding up all projects in his constituency,” Mr. Vaishnaw said. He added that he regularly sought guidance from Mr. Joshi while facing questions in Parliament.
Mr. Joshi appealed to the Railway Minister to increase the frequency of Hubballi-Varanasi train via Sholapur from once a week to twice a week. He urged the Minister to name the Hubballi-Nizamuddin Express after music maestro Sawai Gandharva.
Mayor Iresh Anchatageri, Minister Halappa Achar, Member of Legislative Assembly Arvind Bellad, South Western Railway General Manager Sanjiv Kishore and Public Relation Officer Aneesh Hegde and others were present.
