Railway Board sanctions new railway line between Belagavi and Dharwad via Kittur at cost of Rs. 927 Crores

Railway Board has on Monday communicated sanction to Belagavi – Dharwad via Kittur New Railway Line project (73 km) at a cost of Rs.927.40 Crs approx. This was a long pending demand from the local representatives and Public of the regions Belagavi and Dharwad. The genesis of this demand is need for a shorter train route between Dharwad and Belagavi.

  • The present Rail connectivity between these two important cities through Londa junction is a circuitous route and is taking almost 3 hours. 
  • With this new line, the distance between the 3 important cities Hubballi, Dharwad and Belagavi will reduce resulting in significant development of these regions. 
  • The running time of trains between Hubballi to Belagavi will reduce as a result. 
  • The new line via Kittur will not only reduce the travel time, but will also improve connectivity to places along the Pune – Bengaluru national highway.  

About new railway line between Belagavi and Dharwad:

  • Shri Suresh Angadi, Hon’ble Minister of State of Railways understanding the importance of this Project has taken keen interest to get this project cleared by Railway Board. 
  • This new line will connect important places like Kittur, M.K. Hubballi and Bagewadi.
  • The distance between Belagavi and Dharwad will reduce by 31 kms once this new line is laid. 
  • Hon’ble MoSR has envisaged that once this line is complete the 3 smart cities will be industrial triangle resulting in further improvement of economy of this region. 
  • This new line will benefit the public of Hubballi, Dharwad and Belagavi, making the journey between these three cities easier and quicker.  
  • 11 stations are planned between Dharwad and Belagavi which include 4 stations are already available. 
  • Dharwad (Exg), Kyarakoppo (Exg), Mammigatti, Teguru, Kittur, Hulikatti, M. K. Hubballi, Bagewadi, Kanvikarvinkoppa, Desur (Exg.) & Belagavi(Exg.)
  • The department wise breakup of the cost of the project is as under:
    • Civil Engineering: Rs.755.69 Cr
    • Electrical: Rs.25.93 Cr
    • Electrification: Rs.67.79 Cr
    • Signal & Telecommunication: Rs.77.99 Cr
    • Total: Rs. 927.40 Cr

For this new line State Govt. has committed to provide land free of cost and share cost of construction in view of upcoming Industrial corridor of Belagavi – Kittur – Dharwad. Land for the project will be handed over to Railways free of cost by the State Govt. of Karnataka and  Railway share is chargeable to Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR-IF).

Shri Ajay Kumar Singh, GM/SWR has said that Railway and State Govt. are working in co-ordination for easy connectivity and development of this state and this proposed railway line will be significant milestone.

RORO service:

Recently, Shri B S Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka and Shri Suresh C. Angadi, Minister of State of Railways flagged off the first ever RORO service of South Western Railway from Nelamangla (near Bengaluru) to Bale (near Solapur).

Roll On Roll Off (RORO) is a concept of carrying road vehicles loaded with various commodities, on open flat railway wagons. Hon’ble PM, in his recent Independence day speech, has envisaged multimodal connectivity to take India to next level of development.

Features of RO-RO service:

  • RORO services are combination of best features of road and rail transports in the sense that they offer door to door service with minimal handling transported by fat and direct rail link.
  • Road transport has advantage of door to door delivery of goods. 
  • However, increasing traffic on roads is leading to congestion and delays to passenger vehicles. 
  • This will cause unsafe travel conditions. 
  • Also, delays at interstate check posts due to inspection of various documents, etc. contribute to increased travel time.
  • On the other hand, Railways provide hassle free and environmentally friendly transport to medium to large quantum of freight. Rail transport is most fuel efficient of all means of transport and is much safer than road.

Advantages of RO-RO:

  • Roll-on-Roll-off is a multimodal delivery model with following advantages:
  • Faster movement of goods and essentials, reducing Time taken by trucks to reach destinations due to traffic congestion in between cities.
  • Reduces congestion on the roads.
  • Saves precious fuel.
  • Reduces carbon footprint.
  • Relief to crew of truck as it avoids long distance driving.
  • No hassles of check posts/toll gates etc.
  • Seamless Inter-operability between roadways & railways-Inter-modal transport on existing track.
  • Ensuring uninterrupted supply of essential commodities.
  • Free time for loading/unloading is 3 hours.
  • RO-RO will be reckoning force in “vocal for local”.
  • Will boost our local MSME units by encouraging piecemeal/decentralized loading through trucks.
  • RO-RO will help government initiatives like “operation green” to stabilize prices of  TOP(tomato, potato and Onion).
  • Provides link between agriculture producing regions and agro consumption centres.
  • Ensures farmers get the right market and right price for their produce.
  • Connects and Balances the commodity deficient and surplus markets.

Source: South Western Railway-Press Release | Image Credit: Piyush goyal office- Twitter