Inspection of broad gauge rail line in Darwad
THE GOAN NETWORK
BELAGAVI
The South Western Railways (SWR) will conduct an inspection of the newly-laid broad gauge double line between Kambarganvi and Alnavar junction in Dharwad district on Wednesday.
The inspection of the 11.5 kms of the doubling is a section of Bellary-Hospet-Vasco-da-Gama route (407 kms) of SWR. Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, Bangaluru will conduct statutory inspection of the newly-laid double line.
It may be recalled that Mallikarjun Kharge, former union minister for railways, had laid the foundation stone for the doubling of the Hospet-Tinaighat-Londa section of the Bellary-Hospet-Vasco-da-Gama route in July 2013. The railway line passes through Bellary, Koppal, Gadag, Dharwad, Belagavi and Uttara Kannada districts of Karnataka state.
Considering potential traffic in future, the Hospet-Hubli-Londa-Tinaighat-Vasco-da-Gama (407 kms) doubling was sanctioned by the Railway Board at a total cost of Rs 2,127 crore in 2010-11. The work of Hospet-Tinaighat (245 kms) is being taken up under Phase-I, at a cost of Rs 928.85 crore.
The final location survey is now in progress in the Castle Rock-Kulem ghat section. This project is partially funded by Asian Development Bank and is being implemented by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. On completion of the project, railways propose to implement more passenger trains in this section to facilitate easy movement of passengers to visit tourist places and heritage sites.
Iron ore from this region is transported to Chennai and Goa ports for export. The doubling of railway track is also necessary to move imported coal from Mormugao Port to the steel industries and upcoming thermal power plants in Jevargi in Gulbarga district and other projects in Bellary districts in North Karnataka.
Thus, it is important to increase the capacity of the existing rail network to handle additional traffic demand necessary to sustain country’s economic growth. The doubling will also increase number of passenger trains connecting important tourist destinations like Goa in the west to the world heritage site of Hampi in the east and help in promoting tourism in North Karnataka.
However, though the railways have got the green signal, it was learnt that the process of doubling is yet to get the green signal from Goa government.
