Railway takes up repair of fallen ceiling at Mysuru Station

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Mysuru: In tune with its heritage, the railway authorities of South Western Railway (SWR), Mysuru Division, have taken up the repair work of the broken ceiling of the front portico of the historic Mysuru Railway Station.

During the rainy season in 2021, the cement plastering of the portico of one of the main entrances to the railway station fell off. Luckily no one was injured in the mishap. Subsequently, the authorities wanted to take up the restoration of the fallen ceiling since the iron rods could be seen with the naked eye. Since Mysuru Railway Station has been an iconic structure in the city, the permission of the district administration was required before taking up the repair works.

So, railway officers prepared a detailed plan and submitted it to the district administration seeking permission to take up the repair work. But there was a delay in getting permission from the heritage committee presided by the Deputy Commissioner since it was busy dealing with the rising Corona cases. After one or two rounds of discussion, the district administration gave permission to take up the repair work but asked the railway to insert an advertisement in the newspapers about the repair work calling for objections from the citizens, if any.

In the meantime, the contractor backed out from the work citing delay which forced the authorities to call for fresh tenders. Rahul Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, Mysuru Division, SWR told News Trail that the work was going on smoothly for repair of the fallen ceiling. As a precaution, the whole area has been barricaded to prevent the movement of the general public. As Mysuru Railway Station has been listed as a heritage monument, the railway has to take prior permission of the heritage committee. The DC did not take much time in approving the work. The DRM said the railway is thinking of preparing a detailed project for restoration of the station.

Mysuru Railways: A proud history

Long before a state owned railway started operating in the country, Mysore Kingdom had its own Railways. Rulers of the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom had established Mysore State Railway to focus on the development of railway infrastructure within the kingdom, at a time when the entire railway network in the country was operated by private companies.

Two years after Chamaraja Wadiyar X was proclaimed the ruler of Mysore Kingdom, Mysore State Railways was established to take up the project to lay a rail line between Mysore and Bengalulu in 1870. MSR was constituted to focus on railway development on the lines of the Madras Railway Company which had a rail link between Royapuram and Bangalore City.

By 1881, when Wadiyar became king, MSR had opened 58 miles of rail lines. He added 315 miles of rail tracks investing ?164 lakh, including the Mysore- Bangalore line which opened in 1881 & Mysore – Nanjangud line, which opened in 1891. This has been officially recorded in The Mysore Gazetteer. However, later, all the lines were handed over to Southern Mahratta Railway Company.