The Hindu Business Line : Last run for these trains on metre gauge

SIX pairs of passenger trains and two pairs of freight trains that travel between Samakhali and Palanpur would undertake their last journey today on the 248-km long metre gauge track — the track closes Friday onwards for a gauge conversion project (to broad gauge) undertaken by Kutch Railway Company Ltd (KRCL). A pair of train denotes a return trip between two stations.

KRCL is Rs 500-crore gauge conversion project aimed at cutting short the rail transportation distance between Gujarat ports and the northern hinterlandt.

"Metre gauge trains would do their last run today between Samakhali and Palanpur. Tomorrow onwards the route would be closed for three and a half months as the gauge conversion work begins," Mr Yogendra Sharma, Managing Director, KRCL told Business Line.

The 248-km track between Samakhali and Palanpur is expected to be commissioned by March 31, 2006, he added. Broad gauge freight trains are expected to move after March 2006 since a broad gauge already exists between Samakhali and Gandhidham. For the three-and-a-half-month period starting Friday, freight trains would have to access the country's hinterland through a slightly longer route. Till date, the goods were transhipped from the metre gauge wagons to broad gauge wagons at Palanpur, which is connected to the hinterland through broad gauge tracks. The freight trains primarily transported crude salt sector from nearby areas to refineries in the hinterland. They also serve the fertiliser and vegetable oil plants located nearby. The passenger trains would continue to do some shorter runs on strips of metre-gauge track up to Samakhali and Bhildi junction.

KRCL line expects to get a minimum of 5-6 million tonnes of freight cargo during 2006-07, registering Rs 95.6 crore revenue during the fiscal 2006-07.