The Hindu Business Line : Mangalore-Bangalore Rly line to be operational by Jan 2005

The Union Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, has said that work on Kabakaputtur-Subramanya route would be over by March 2004. Rest of the line between Subramanya and Sakleshpur will be over by December 2004. Since the work on Hassan-Sakleshpur route has been completed, the Mangalore-Hassan-Bangalore railway line could be operational by January 2005.

Inaugurating the broad gauge railway line between Mangalore and Kabakaputtur here on Sunday, the Minister stated that though broad gauge conversion on this stretch was an old project, work was not progressing well in this regard. The Union Government has made an attempt to complete the project, he said. Mr Kumar also flagged off the inaugural run of the Mangalore-Kabakaputtur train.

On the demands for the inclusion of Mangalore in the South-Western Railway from the existing Southern Railway, he said that Mangalore would be included in the South-Western Railway zone after the completion of the gauge conversion work between Kabakaputtur-Sakleshpur stretch. Till then the Southern Railway will handle it.

The Rs 312.43-crore Hassan-Mangalore railway line project is a part of Karnataka Rail Infrastructure Development (K-RIDE) Corporation in which the State Government is a partner.

K-RIDE has taken up four railway projects under the cost-sharing mechanism. The Minister hoped that these projects would get more funds. The Union Minister of State for Railways, Mr Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, urged the State Government to provide more funds for the railway projects.

The Mangalore MP, Mr Dhananjaya Kumar, said that the Government has sanctioned Rs 12,000 crore for railway safety system.Mr Oscar Fernandes, MP, stated that Konkan Railway and Indian Railways should work together. Unification of traffic of the Konkan Railway with the Indian Railways will help improve services such as roll-on roll-off of the Konkan Railway, he added.

Mr R.N. Aga, General Manager of South-Western Railway, who welcomed the gathering, stated that the zone has earned Rs 293 crore from passenger traffic and Rs 550 crore from goods traffic. The zone operated 66 summer special trains, he added.

Mr K.K. Sharma, Chief Engineer, Construction, South-Western Railway, Mr S.P.S. Jain, Member-Engineer, Railway Board, and Mr Vinaykumar Sorake, Udupi MP, were present.

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