Title - Kharge lays foundation stone for doubling of Railway Line between Hospet-Tinaighat section

Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Union Minister for Railways laid the Foundation Stone for doubling of Railway line between Hospet-Tinaighat section (245 Kms) at 3-00 p.m., on Saturday, the 13th July, 2013 at Londa High School Grounds, Londa.

The Hospet-Hubli-Londa-Tinaighat (245 km) is a section of Bellary-Hospet-Vasco-da-gama route (407 kms) of South Western Railway. This was converted from Metre Gauge to Broad Gauge during 1997 and the section is saturated with current level of traffic.

The railway line passes through Bellary, Koppal, Gadag, Dharwad, Belgaum and Uttara Kannada districts of Karnataka State. Bellary-Hospet region in Karnataka is the heart of Iron ore industry in the country. Iron ore is an important export commodity, earning valuable foreign exchange for the country. Iron ore from this region is transported to Chennai and Goa ports for export. The doubling of railway track is also necessary to move imported coal from Marmagao Port to the Steel industries and upcoming Thermal Power Plants in Jevargi In Gulbarga District, Thermal Expansion Phase-2 in Bellary Dist. in North Karnataka. Thus, it is important to increase the capacity of the existing Rail network to handle additional traffic demand necessary to sustain the country’s economic growth. The doubling will also increase number of passenger trains connecting important Tourist destinations like Goa in the west to the World heritage site of Hampi in the East and help in promoting tourism in the North Karnataka.

Considering potential traffic in the future, the Hospet-Hubli-Londa-Tinaighat-Vasco-da-Gama(407 Km) doubling was sanctioned by Railway Board at a total cost of Rs.2,127 Crs. in 2010-11. The work of Hospet-Tinaighat (245 km) is being taken up under Phase-I, with a cost of Rs.928.85 Crs. The final location survey is now in progress in the Castle Rock-Kulem ghat section. This project is partially funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (A Govt. of India Enterprise) is the implementing Agency.

On completion of the project, more passenger trains could be introduced in this section to facilitate easy movement of passengers to visit tourist places rich in heritage.