The Hindu : Karnataka / Mysore News : Hassan-Mangalore rail line to be ready by March next

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 23, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

Hassan-Mangalore rail line to be ready by March next

By Our Staff Correspondent

R.N. Aga, General Manager, South Western Railway, inaugurating the rainwater harvesting system in Mysore on Thursday. The Mysore Divisional Railway Manager, Usha Mathur, and the Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Arvind Khare, are seen.

MYSORE, JULY 22. The Hassan-Mangalore railway line may be thrown up for traffic by March 2005 on the completion of work on the Hassan-Sakleshpur section.

The General Manager of South Western Railway, R.N. Aga, disclosed this here today. Addressing presspersons after dedicating the rainwater harvesting system established by the Mysore Division, he said that he was happy with the allocation of funds to South Western Railway and pointed out that the zone had received Rs.150 crore more than what was allocated in the last Railway Budget.

He said the funds would be used to take up works on the Hassan-Shravanabelagola and Bijapur-Bagalkot lines and completion of the Bangalore-Kengeri track doubling work. Though the Centre had sanctioned funds for work on the Hassan-Sakleshpur section, the State Government was yet to contribute its share.

It owed Rs. 152.83 crore to the Railways. The Government released only Rs. 30 crore in the past two years.

Once the Hassan-Mangalore line was thrown open for traffic, it would provide a direct link to the port and facilitate exports from the hinterland of Mysore and surrounding regions.

The division envisaged an increase in its freight traffic and it was estimated that the volume of freight would reach six million tonnes per annum, he said.

On the track doubling work between Mysore and Bangalore, Mr. Aga said that a proposal had been sent to the Railway Ministry, which was yet to accord sanction.

However, the work had been sanctioned up to Ramanagaram and it was likely to be completed up to Kengeri during the current financial year subject to the availability of rails and sleepers.

The proposal included electrification and the estimated cost per km of work was Rs. 3.5 crore, he added.

Usha Mathur, Divisional Railway Manager, spoke about the rainwater harvesting system established in the division and said that a policy decision had been taken to launch the programme throughout the zone.

The authorities planned to construct pits to harvest rainwater at 300 locations in 132 railway stations in the division before August 31 of which, 100 pits would be in Mysore.

She said the Railways faced difficulty in providing drinking water at the stations and in trains. In fact, the division had to purchase water through tankers as borewells did not yield adequate water.

Hence, it was decided to recharge groundwater table by harvesting rainwater, she added. Twenty-six such pits constructed in 17 stations in the division were commissioned today.

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