Keeping in mind the growing pressure of the suburban traffic in Bengaluru, the railways have sanctioned a quadrupling project with a provision of two additional lines from Bengaluru Cantt to Whitefield at a cost of Rs 492.87 crore.

The 25 km stretch will involve six most important stations--Bengaluru Cantonment, Bengaluru East, Baiyyapannahalli, Krishnarajapuram, Hoodi and Whitefield. The project is set to benefit 62,000 daily commuters in this section by making commuting within Bengaluru easy and faster, said a statement issued by the railway ministry.

The project will be completed within two to three years. It will be a boon for those belonging to the IT hub of Whitefield, it said.

At present, 146 and 94 trains are running from Bengaluru and Yesvantpur stations, respectively, out of which 122 are of suburban nature catering to commuters.

A major portion of the suburban trains are running in Bengaluru-Whitefield section. In view of increasing commuter requirement, in last one and half year itself, 26 suburban services have been introduced along with seven long distance trains in Bengaluru area, the statement said.

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Besides, four suburban services between KSR Bengaluru- Baiyyappanahalli and Baiyappanahalli- Bengaluru have been introduced, it added.

Meanwhile, this year is expected to bring in some early good news for wagon makers and firms providing railway infrastructure with the Railway Board set to put an end to inordinate delays in awarding of tenders as communicated in the closing days of last year.

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"Railway Board vide various letters had emphasised for timely settlement of tenders. In a complaint investigated by Railway Board, it has been observed that there is a long time gap between the opening of the tenders and their finalisation, which is not normal. In this context, it is once again reiterated that all tenders should be finalised within the normal validity period," a letter written by the Railway Board to all its production units as well as other departments said recently, urging to fix definite timelines for execution of every contract.

The biggest beneficiary would perhaps be the wagon makers who are still awaiting awarding of a tender for 9,500 wagons expected in July last year.

The wagon makers were expecting the order to flow finally by the end of November, industry sources said.

"Suitable timelines within the validity period and monitoring mechanism thereof may be devised by Railways or it's production units. Strict adherence to such timelines in all circumstances should be ensured," the letter written by Railway Board deputy director Santosh Mitral said.

Despite plans to spend close to Rs 8.5 lakh crore to beef up Indian Railways, the wagon makers, a key component of the department's freight revenue generation, have been bleeding profusely primarily due to lack of adequate orders caused primarily due to recurring delays in awarding these wagon contracts.

(With inputs from PTI)