With the beginning of goods train services on the newly laid Hosapete-Kottur-Harihar rail line recently, people of the region are hopeful of getting passenger train services soon.
A goods train is plying on the Kottur-Hosapete route for the first time in the last two decades after it was closed for conversion of track from metre gauge to broad gauge.
Two rakes comprising 59 wagons carrying iron ore from Sasalu near Chikjajur to JSW Steel plant in Toranagal in Ballari district plied on the track recently. A trial run of an empty rake was held in the first week of June after a track inspection was conducted by Arun Kumar Jain, Divisional Railway Manager, Hubballi Division of South Western Railway in the last week of May.
The Railways proposed to extend the Hosapete-Kottur line up to Harihar to help the development of the hinterland and to connect Hosapete, Hagari Bommanahalli, and Kudligi taluks of Ballari district to the Bengaluru-Hubballi main line.
The extension of the line, apart from linking the east coast (Visakhapatnam) with the west coast (Mangalore port), will also facilitate transportation of coal, iron ore and fertilizer, besides passenger trains towards Dakshina Kannada and Shivamogga.
In 1995, C.K. Jaffer Sherrief, as the then Minister for Railways, laid the foundation stone for gauge conversion and extension of the line up to Harihar. For various reasons, the project moved at a slow pace. However, the stretch between Harihar and Kottur was thrown open for passenger train movement in March 2014 with Mallikarjun Kharge, as the then Railway Minister, flagged off the first train. The stretch between Kottur-Hosapete was yet to be opened for passenger trains.
“Running of goods trains has been successful on the newly laid track. Following demand from the people, we will provide a facility for loading at Hagari Bommanahalli station which will be in addition to the facility already available in Kottur and Amaravati stations,” Rajalingam Basu, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, told The Hindu .
With rail connectivity in place, farmers can now make use of it for transportation of maize, sunflower, groundnuts among other agriculture produce, besides getting fertilizer unloaded at these stations.
