Slow progress on railway project disappoints people

Passenger train services delayed for want of safety certificate

Cost of the project has increased enormously owing to inordinate delay




DESERTED LOOK:The railway station at Kottur in Bellary district awaits introduction of train services.
BELLARY: It appears that the restoration of train services between Hospet and Kottur-Harihar may not happen in the near future.

The project has not been completed 17 years after work on the new line began. At present, only the Hospet-Kottur-Harihar line is ready with the railway authorities already having conducted a test run with a goods train. However, there are no signs of passenger train services being introduced on the line soon. The delay has disappointed the people of Hospet, Sandur, Hagari Bommanahalli and Harapanahalli taluks.

Work on other infrastructure facilities, including civil works in the railway station buildings, electrification and so on are in various stages of completion. According to sources, the authorities are awaiting the safety certificate from the Commissioner of Railway Safety to start passenger train services on this line.

As part of the uni-gauge system introduced during the term of C.K. Jaffer Sharief as Minister for Railways, passenger train services between Hospet and Kottur were stopped for conversion of the metre-gauge line to broad-gauge.

Mr. Sharief, who inaugurated the gauge conversion work in 1995, also laid the foundation stone for extending the line by 65 km from Kottur to Harihar in Davangere district.

The railway link between Kottur and Harihar was then considered essential because it would help develop the hinterland besides linking the east coast (Visakhapatnam) with west coast (Mangalore port). It was also expected to facilitate transportation of coal, iron ore, fertilizers and introduction of passenger trains towards Dakshina Kannada and Shimoga.

The original estimated cost of Rs. 65 crore for the 65-km stretch has now increased enormously. Nearly Rs. 268 crore has been spent on this project so far. This is in addition to around Rs. 65 crore spent on the conversion of the existing line.

The increase in cost is attributed to the inordinate delay in execution. Residents of Kottur and members of the Kottur Nagarika Horata Samiti, who had staged a protest demanding early completion of the work and introduction of train services, blame the elected representatives for not taking up the matter with the Union Government. Shridhar Shetty, secretary of the samiti, told The Hindu that he was constantly in touch with the railway authorities and they had promised to complete the work quickly.

“Work on the track has been completed. Although preliminary work on the installation of signals between Harihar and Kottur has been completed, work on installing signals beyond Kottur up to Hospet is yet to be taken up,” he said.

The Union Minister of State for Railways and other authorities are being urged to speed up the work and complete the project at the earliest,” he