• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

A.J. Vinayak

Mangalore, May 5 After handling 4.6 million tonnes of freight traffic during 2007-08, the Hassan-Mangalore Rail Development Company (HMRDC) Ltd is now confident of sustaining the growth during the current fiscal also. The company has set a target of handling 6 million tonnes of freight traffic during the current fiscal.

Expressing confidence about growth during the current fiscal, Ms Sarla Balgopal, Director and Chief Executive Officer of HMRDC, told Business Line that several factors will contribute towards this.

She said that iron ore exports are going to continue via New Mangalore Port, which is the most convenient and economical outlet for cargo originating from mines in Chitradurga and Tumkur districts.

In the last fiscal, iron ore mines in these districts contributed a major share to the company’s revenue.

HMRDC line is the shortest route available for transporting iron ore from these districts to New Mangalore Port.

With improvement in infrastructure such as increased inputs in the HMRDC line and in the railway yard at New Mangalore Port, commissioning of the railway bypass line at Mangalore Junction, and doubling of the line between Mangalore Junction and Panambur in Mangalore, additional transportation capacity will be created.

“This will help cater to traffic such as iron ore for the plant of Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd at Mangalore and POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant) products from MRPL (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd) to Bangalore,” she said.

With movement getting streamlined on this section, more import cargoes such as coal and limestone may get diverted to this line, she added. It may be mentioned here that HMRDC, which commissioned the railway line between Hassan and Mangalore for freight traffic in May 2006, reached its break-even point in the second year of operation in 2007-08.

HMRDC is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) which has been conferred with the rights to carry on the business of development, establishment, financing, construction, operations, maintenance and management of the broadgauge railway line between Hassan and Mangalore.

The Karnataka Government, Railways, New Mangalore Port Trust, Mineral Enterprises Ltd, and Karnataka Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation are stakeholders in the SPV.

More Stories on : Railways | Shipping

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
GMR signs pact on Istanbul airport terminal

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line