Commissioner of Railway Safety inspects doubling works between Unkal and Dharwad part of Hubballi-Dharwad section

Statutory inspection for opening of newly laid double line Section between Dharwad to Unkal (17 Km) part of the Hubballi – Dharwad section was done by Commissioner of Railway Safety on 14.10.2020. Shri A K Rai, Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Eastern Region inspected the section along with Shri K C Swami, CAO/CN/SWR, Shri Arvind Malkhede, DRM/UBL & Shri P K Kshatriya, CPM/RVNL, Smt Madhavi, GGM,S&T/RVNL and Shri Srinivasalu, Dy.CRS.

  • Now the doubling apart from the ghat section in Karnataka, from Hosapeet to Tinaighat has been completed except for a small patch between Hubballi to Unkal (4 km) for which work is in full swing and targeted to be completed shortly.
  • This work is being executed by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd.
  • The inspection commenced from Dharwad at 09:00 hrs and en-route, the track, level crossing gates (manned non-interlocked traffic gates), track curves, bridges, Road over and Under bridges in the section were inspected. 
  • During the inspection, all passenger amenities, Foot over bridges and station buildings at Dharwad station, Navalur Station and Unkal were also inspected. 
  • At Navalur, goods depot has been developed with 9 tracks facilitating it as a major goods depot and also a C&W checking depot. 
  • CRS will give his authorization, after which the double line will be opened for traffic. Non-interlocking work in the section will also be taken up after CRS authorization.

Shri Ajay Kumar Singh, GM/SWR said that on completion of short patch left over between Hubballi and Unkal, it will facilitate quicker running of trains between Hosapete and Tinaghat.

50th NMG rake flagged off:

Shri Ajaya Kumar singh, General Manager, South Western Railway on 13th October, 2020 virtually flagged off the 50th NMG (New Modified Goods) rake dispatched from Penukonda. He flagged off the train from Hubballi through video link.

The train loaded with 100 cars (SUVs) of M/s KIA motors  in 25 NMG wagons (NMG wagons are wagons modified to facilitate the easy movement of automobile goods) left Penukonda Railway Station in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh to Farukhnagar in Gurugram District of Haryana.

  • Penukonda Station is in the Jurisdiction of Bengaluru Division of South Western Railway.
  • Shri H.C. Verma, Principal Chief Operations Manager, Shri Anil Pavithran, Principal Chief Commercial Manager, Shri Vipul Kumar, Principle Chief Engineer, Shri Ashok Kumar Verma, Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru Division were also present with the General Manager at Hubballi during flagging off.
  • Shri Akhil M Shastri, Sr. Divisional Operations Manager, Bengaluru division, Shri Raushan Kumar, Divisional Commercial Manager, Bengaluru Division and Shri John Soo Kim, Logistics Head, KIA Motors and other officers from Railways were present at Penukonda during flagging off.
  • During the financial year 2020-21, every month at a steady rate of 10 rakes per month, loading of cars is being done at Penukonda Railway Station, from Anantapur plant of M/s. KIA motors.
  • Till date a total of 4980 cars (including 100 cars sent today) have been transported to Farukh Nagar from Penukonda. Railways have set up a siding at Penukonda exclusively for transport of these cars. Each NMG rake normally carries 100 cars.
  • The cars were loaded by M/s. IVC Logistics Ltd, who are logistic partners for Railways and KIA Motors.
  • Bengaluru Division which was mainly transporting raw materials and essential commodities took to loading of automobiles for the first time when it transported 175 tractors from Doddaballapur Railway Station to Phuleria in Rajasthan o­n 29.04.2020.
  • During the current year, 47 rakes of automobiles manufactured by M/s. TAFE, mainly tractors have been loaded by Train from Doddaballapur Railway Station near Bengaluru. 
  • Mysuru Division of South Western Railway also has started to operate NMG trains to transport automobile goods to different regions.  
  • O­ne NMG train loaded with 1000 TVS two-wheelers was dispatched from Kadakola in Mysuru Division to Changsari in Assam o­n 10.10.2020.
  • This automobile loading in NMG rakes was nearly Nil last year.
  • With extensive marketing efforts of recently constituted Business Development Units, Railways is capturing new streams of traffic and thereby contributing to the revival of economy which is adversely affected by Covid-19.

Source: South Western Railway-Press Release