Vijayapura: The commuters of the District are demanding the South Western Railway (SWR) to extend Gol Gumbaz Express to Pandharapura and simultaneously speed up the same train between Vijayapura and Bengaluru at the earliest.
MP Ramesh Jigajinagi has reportedly written a letter to Railway Ministry urging to fulfill various railway demands including extending Gol Gumbaz Express to Pandharapura and converting the same train into superfast.
In a letter, Jigajinagi pointed out that, “The proposal of extending Gol Gumbaz express to Pandharapura has been stuck with Central Railway (CR) from the past many months. I appeal to you to direct CR to approve the proposal and implement it with immediate effect.”
The train no 16535/36 Gol Gumbaz Express departs Solapur at 2.10 pm and reaches Vijayapura at 4.00 pm, after stopping for over two hours, it departs at 6.15 pm and reaches Bengaluru at 8am and Mysuru at 10.45 am. The same train departs Mysuru at 3.45 pm and then departs Bengaluru at 6.55 pm which then reaches Vijayapura at 8.25 am and Solaupur at 12.10 pm. The timings between Solapur and Vijayapura have been revised recently.
Ashok Hallur, Chairman of Vijayapura Railway Action Committee, pointed out that, “We have two main demands connected to Gol Gumbaz Express. Even MP Jigajinagji has brought this to the notice of the Union Railway Minister but no positive response has been received so far either from SWR or CR officials.”
“After the revised timings, the Gol Gumbaz (16536) is being halted for at least two hours at Vijayapura before departing to Bengaluru. So, we are appealing to extend the same train to Pandharapura. This will be able to mitigate the hardships of thousands of devotees from Karnataka who are finding it difficult to reach the holy place Pandharapura by a train.”
“The rail authorities should also convert this express train to superfast express train in order to fasten the journey time between Vijayapura and Bengaluru. I have penned many letters to railway authorities of both the divisions but have not received overwhelming response,” elaborated rail activist Hallur.
“A proposal has been sent to the Railway Board. We are waiting for approval. SWR has plans to speed up the Gol Gumbaz Express for the benefit of the passengers,” said Aneesh Hegde, Chief Public Relation Officer, SWR.
