1.0 OVERVIEW Karnataka
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY- Marching ahead towards Progress. P.K. Saxena General Manager South Western Railway 1.0 OVERVIEW South Western Railway was created by amalgamating the re-organized Hubli division from South Central Railway and Bangalore & Mysore divisions from Southern Railway. It became operational from 1st April 2003 with its headquarters at Hubli in the state of Karnataka. Bangalore city is a world famous Information Technology hub of India. Hubli and Mysore are having a number of important tourist places where tourists from all over the world visit round the year. Hubli division connects the World Heritage Sites such as Hampi Ruins, Caves in Badami, Pattadakallu, Aihole etc, Londa Jn is an important gateway to the state of Goa. Mysore division caters to the World famous Dasara celebrations, Hoysala dynasty’s splendorous sculptures in Belur, Halebeedu and many other historic places. SWR has in all 336 stations (including halts). This Railway has two coaching workshops at Hubli and Mysore and also two Diesel sheds at Hubli and Krshnarajapuram. The zone has now become unigauge railway with 3,280 route kms., The last narrow gauge section of 87 kms length between Chikballapur and Kolar has been converted in November 2013. The work force consist of 38,827 employees on rolls as on 1st February, 2014. This includes 523 Gazetted officers and 38,304 Non-Gazetted staff. This Railway runs 232 mail/express trains per day including Duronto, Rajdhani, Shatabdi & Janshatabdi Express. 2.0 INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT. A special trust is being given to improve infrastructure and line capacity on various sections of SWR. 2.1 Route Length – State wise. Total BG SN State Maharashtra (Kms) 1. Karnataka 2785 2. Andhra Pradesh 224 3. Tamil Nadu 174 4. Maharashtra 28 5. Goa 69 Total 3280 1 In Karnataka there are in total 26 ongoing projects costing Rs.23,125 Crs out of which 16 projects are being shared by Govt. of Karnataka and in 10 projects land is also being given free of cost by Govt. of Karnataka. The total requirement of funds for sanctioned projects is Rs.19337 cr. (Railway Rs.12,123 Cr & Govt. of Karnataka is 7,214 Cr). Average budget grant per year in the past has been Rs.635 Cr., i.e Rs.390 Cr. from Railway and Rs.245 Cr from Govt. of Karnataka 237 km of track has been commissioned during 2013-14, which includes 112 km of New Line, 87 km of Gauge Conversion and 38 km of Doubling. Details of the sections commissioned during 2013-14 is as under:- Sl. Name of the project Length No. (in km) New Lines 1. Kadur-Chikmagalur 45 2. Kottur-Harihar 67 Gauge Conversion 3. Kolar-Chikballapur 87 Doubling 4. Maddur-Hanakere-Mandya 19 5. Birur-Nagavangala-Ajjampur 19 TOTAL 237 The details of a few of the major projects commissioned during the year are furnished below: 2.1 New line between Kadur - Chikkamagalur The Kadur – Chikmagalur – Sakleshpur new line project was sanctioned in 1996-97 with original estimated cost of Rs.157 Crs. The work of the first phase of the project between Kadur-Chikkamagalur was taken up during the year 2000. Initially the progress remained slow due to land acquisition problems and also lack of funds. In April 2010, Govt of Karnataka came forward for sharing 50% cost of the project and also to expedite the acquisition of land. The work was speeded up and the stretch between Kadur and Chikkmagalur was commissioned on 19.11.2013 with the running of passenger services between Chikkamagalur to Kadur and Shimoga. The salient features of the Chikkamagalur-Kadur New line Length 45.12 kms Year of sanction 1996-87 Cumulative Exp. Rs.319 Cr (Total) Rly : Rs.216 Cr GoK: RS.103 Cr District Covered Chikkamagalur Ruling Gradient 1 in 1000 Major Bridges 04 Minor Bridges 75 ROB/RUB 12 + 20 Chikkmagalur (District Headquarters) is an important town on this new line which is a tourist destination, trade center and also known as ‘Coffee land of Karnataka’. It is located at the foot hills of Mullayanagiri Range, the highest peak between Himalayas and Niligris. A large 2 area of this district falls in Malnad region in the Western ghats and largely forested hilly region with heavy rainfall. The second phase between Chikkamagalur to Sakleshpur was frozen by Railway Board in 2007. Subsequently Govt of Karnataka came forward to provide land free of cost in addition to bear 50% cost of the project and decision has been taken go ahead with the balance stretch. Railway Board has now sanctioned Revised Estimate of the project costing Rs.645 Cr in January 2014. Government of Karnataka will share Rs.352.77 Crs and Railway will share Rs.292.23 Crs out of the project cost. The land acquisition proceedings have been initiated and work in few section will commence shortly. 2.2 Kolar – Chikbalapur Gauge Conversion. The above project was initially sanctioned in 2006. It was progressing slowly due to fund constraints. Meanwhile in April 2010, Govt. of Karnataka came forward to share the cost of the project in the interest of expediting the progress and also for the purpose of developing this region which was identified as one of the backward areas needing infrastructural development. Kolar – Chikballapur is a branch line of 87 km catering to various areas in the districts of Chikbalapur and Kolar. The salient features of the newly converted Kolar – Chikbalapur line. Length 87 km Year of sanction 2006-07 Cumulative Exp Rs.440 Cr (Total) Rly :Rs.273 Crs GoK :Rs.167 Crs Districts Covered Kolar & Chikbalapur No of Stations 6 Crossing Stations 4 Halt Stations No. of LCs 8 Manned, 16 Unmanned Major Bridges 12 Minor Bridges 157 3 The section was originally part of the narrow gauge line between Yelhanaka – Bangarapet line built during the British regime. Under the uni-gauge policy the Yelhanka – Bangarapet line was closed in August 1995 and the work of conversion to Broad Gauge was taken up. The stretch between Yelhanka to Chikballapur was (45 km) was completed by 1998. The balance stretch between Chikbalapur to Kolar (87 km) was also sanctioned for conversion in 2006. The line has been commissioned for running of passenger train services on 08.11.2013. With the completion of Gauge conversion of this section SWR has now become Uni-gauge w.e.f 08.11.2013 2.3 Kottur – Harihar (Amaravathi Colony) New Railway Line. The above project was sanctioned during the year 1995-96. It traverses through Bellary and Davangere District of Karnataka. The line takes off from Amaravathi colony station of the Hubli – Bangalore Railway Line and reaches Kottur station covering a distance of 65 km. The project estimate was sanctioned in 2008 at a cost of Rs.281 Cr and subsequently revised to Rs.425 Cr. Govt of Karnataka and Railways have shared the cost with 2:1 ratio. The salient features of Kottur – Harihar (Amaravathi Colony) New Railway Line Length 65 kms Year of sanction 1995-96 Cumulative Exp : Rs.425 Cr (Total) Cost sharing by GoK & GoK: Rs.283.34 Cr Railway 2:1 Rly : Rs.141.66 Cr District Covered Bellary, Davangere Stations 5 (Kotturu, Bennenhalli, Harapanahalli, Teligi, Amaravathi Colony) Major Bridges 17 Minor Bridges 102 Road Over Bridges 07 + 32 Road Under Bridges Level Crossing 06 (Manned) The construction of this line will reduce the distance from Hospet to Mangalore by 137 kms as presently the freight trains from Hospet to Mangalore are moving via Bellary, Rayadyrga, Arsikere, Hassan. Further the new line will provide connectivity to remote areas of Kotturu, Bennenhalli, Harapanahalli, Teligi, with Hubli – Bangalore main line. 4 Most of the work of the new line was completed in 2010 but the land losers were demanding enhanced compensation and preventing Railways from completing the balance works and commissioning the line. After active persuasion at various levels land losers agreed to accept the enhanced compensation decided by Hon’ble High Court and permitted the Railways to complete the balance work. The remaining work was taken up on a war footing and the line was commissioned with the flagging off of Train No.56529/30 Kottur – Harihar passenger on 03.03.2014. 3.0 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: SWR is continuously striving for betterment of performance both in physical and financial terms. The performance of the Railway during the current financial year up to January, 2014 has been satisfactory. SWR has carried 159.90 million passengers upto January 2014. The originating passenger earnings up to January, 2014 have increased approximately by 23.53 % from Rs.1,031.32 Crs. to Rs.1,273.84 Crs. The performance on the freight side is also encouraging inspite of the ban imposed on mining by the Govt. of Karnataka. SWR carried 29.00 MTs of freight up to January, 2014 against 28.03 MTs, during the corresponding period of previous year, registering an increase of 3.46%. The originating freight earnings up to January, 2014 in the current financial year is Rs. 2400.40 Crs., which is 7.40 % more than the corresponding period of previous year earnings of Rs. 2234.92 Crs. The originating total Gross earnings of SWR up to the end of January, 2014 have increased from Rs. 3455.20 Crs. to Rs.3866.67 Crs., which is 11.90 % more than the corresponding period of previous year. 4.0 PASSENGER PROFILE: 4.1 Category of Stations : SWR has in all 336 stations (including halts) SL. Category of Station Nos. No. 1. A 1 02 2. A 15 3. B 17 4. C Nil 5. D 47 6.