State funds sought for rail project

State funds sought for rail project
The Hindu.com

Staff Correspondent

They are needed for Bagalkot-Gadag gauge conversion

# Bijapur-Bagalkot broadgauge line likely by August 31
# Expansion of Hubli Railway Station in phases

HUBLI: Trilok Nath Perti, General Manager, South Western Railway (SWR), said on Friday that the State Government had been requested to release Rs. 43 crore for gauge conversion between Bagalkot and Gadag.

Addressing presspersons here on Friday after releasing the new timetable of the SWR, Mr. Perti said the project estimate of Rs. 178 crore had increased by Rs. 86 crore, and the State Government would have to provide 50 per cent of the additional funds required.

If funds were released, the project could be completed by March 31, Mr. Perti said.

He said gauge conversion between Bijapur and Bagalkot was nearing completion, and the rail line was expected be ready by August 31. Mr. Perti said track doubling between Vasco-da-Gama and Hospet and between Arsikere and Chikjajur had been proposed, and a survey had begun. Track doubling of sections such as Yeshwanthpur-Tumkur, Bangalore- Kengeri, Kengeri- Ramnagaram, and Hospet-Torangallu was under way, he said.

To a question, he said the process of acquiring 100 acres of land at Navalur for shifting a goods shed was nearing completion. The goods shed was expected to be shifted in a year.

Mr. Perti said the SWR would take up the expansion of the Hubli Railway Station in phases. He said construction of the zonal headquarters building had begun. In 2004-05, the SWR spent Rs. 488 crore on infrastructure. It might invest more funds for improving facilities in the current financial year, he added.

About recruitment of Group `D' employees, he said the process would be started soon.

Mr. Perti said the SWR had made security arrangements in the wake of the bomb blasts in Mumbai. Adequate security personnel were available. The SWR had installed 42 closed-circuit cameras at the Bangalore City Railway Station, he added.