Karnataka - Bijapur   

Broad-gauge line till Bagalkot by March Broad-gauge line till Bagalkot

Suresh Bhat

Efforts on to procure rails, sleepers from Central Railway

BIJAPUR: Notwithstanding the announcement in the Railway Budget that the broad-gauge line will be completed only till Telgi, 45 km from here, South Western Railway has decided to take up and finish gauge conversion till Bagalkot by the end of the financial year.

Sources told The Hindu that efforts are being made at the senior level to procure as many as 76,000 sleepers from the Dound and Mohul factories. Central Railway had placed an order for sleepers, but did not require them immediately as the civil works on its projects have not yet been completed.

Official team

South Western Railway has contacted with Central Railway authorities and they have responded positively. South Western Railway is sending an official team to complete the formalities shortly, the sources said. Around 1,400 tonnes of rails is also expected from the Bhilai Steel Plant by the end of April, they added.

Interestingly, the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, had announced in the 2004-05 budget that the broad-gauge line will be completed till Bagalkot by March 2005. However, he reduced the target in this year's budget following the failure of the State Government, which has cost sharing agreement with Railways for the project, to pay Rs. 41 crores.

Civil works complete

The allocation for the project is Rs. 15 crores this year. Civil works including a bridge on the Don, and nearly 100-km of the Bijapur-Bagalkot section of Sholapur (Hotgi)-Gadag line have been completed.

Almost half the quantity of sleepers and a major portion of rails have already been unloaded at the project site. A sum of Rs. 35 crores, including Rs. 20 crores recently released by the State, is available for the project, prompting the Railways to take up the project.

The Bijapur-Gadag section requires 10,300 tonnes of rails, 1.52 lakh sleepers, 6.1 lakh rail-clips and some other inputs to finish conversion work.

Of this nearly 9,000 tonnes of rails and 76,000 sleepers were supplied before the general elections owing to the interest shown by the then Union Minister of State for Railways, Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal.

Work on the Bijapur-Telgi section has been speeded up. The additional rails stocked at Nimbal Station are being shifted to sites between Alamatti and Bagalkot, they said.

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Broad-gauge line till Bagalkot by March Broad-gauge line till Bagalkot

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