On Rail Connectivity in Karnataka

Notwithstanding the abolition of a separate Railway Budget, the Pink Book- zonal wise allocation of funds remain keenly awaited. Quantum of fund allocation zone-wise underscore the requisite to extend rail connectivity to new territories. Nonetheless, superfluity of plans aside, ground work remains intermittent. While India is affianced in ritualistic statements, China introduced and expanded the reach of high speed trains; Tibet came on rail map and is a matter of time before their railways touches Indian borders. Given the increasing Chinese reach, Indian achievements if we can term any, pale in comparison. While speeds in China touch 250-300 kmph, most of our trains average around 50 kmph or perhaps even less. The fastest trains in India currently average in the low 90 kmph range.

Railway connectivity is not uniform across the country. Beyond doubt, substantial proportion of railway network traces its foundations to the British days. It was military movements accompanied by administrative requirements that laid the foundations for the pan Indian railways. In alignment with these was the foresight of many an Indian royal families who laid railway lines across their princely states. Post-Independence, the progress of railway lines has been patchy.   Barring Konkan Railway, the number of railway lines emergent remain meagre in contrast to rail development pre-Independence. It is only the last thirty years or so, a plan for unigauge, conversion of all gauges into Broad Gauge began and is yet to be complete. In Karnataka, the rail development has suffered despite numerous railway ministers from the state. In contrast to states like Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh, the number of railway lines or number of trains remain less.

Railway lines in present day Karnataka trace their origin to multiple points of history. Bangalore-Madras line emerged to connect the HQ of Madras Presidency to their Resident in Bangalore. Similarly Mysore state laid a metre gauge railway line from Mysore to Bangalore to connect with this. Though the terminus were different in the initial days, the two terminals Cant and City were soon linked to each other. Similarly Mangalore emerged on rail-map owing the British plan of linking Malabar to the Madras. The MG rail line from Bangalore turned west towards Tumkur-Arsikere from where it got linked at Harihar to Maharatta Railway. The Southern Maharatta Railway moved south of Pune touching Miraj, Belgaum linking to Londa the connecting point for Bellary-Hubli-Goa railway line. From Hubli, the line extended south to connect to Harihar. Bellary was military town connected via Guntakal, Cuddappah to Madras via BG line. From Guntakal, the BG line moved north to Raichur to link up with the railway line coming from Bombay via Pune, Solapur, Gulbarga to complete Bombay-Madras line. From Guntakal the MG line moved south on to touch Bangalore. Nizam’s railway provided a linked from Secunderabad to Wadi to connect to Bombay-Madras line. Nizam’s line to Godavari belt touched Bidar on the way to Parli. Agrarian considerations ensured Solapur line moving south via Bijapur to touch Gadag which became junction point with Hubli-Bellary line. Mysore State railway constructed a line north of Mysore to link up at Arsikere. Branches were built from Birur to Talguppa on Mysore princely state- Bombay Presidency border. Similar branch was constructed from Chikjajur on Arsikere-Harihar section to Chitradurg, the district headquarters. Post-independence, two major lines were the Mangalore- Hassan MG line linking Mangalore with the rest of the state followed by BG Konkan Railway.  Most of the state was under MG with the 1990s seeing the beginning of gauge conversion and Bangalore Miraj and Hubli  Guntakal lines were converted by 1995. Currently the state is one of quite many where gauge conversion is 100% complete.

Yet connectivity within the state remains insufficient and potential exists for expansion. The progress on most lines is slow and the railways attribute it issues of land acquisition. Apparently the State government has been found wanting in transferring land to the railways for necessary progress in work. Additionally, forest areas come in way of railways leading to intervention by the Environment ministry. Hubli-Ankola line is one example of the same.

There is a pressing need to expand rail connectivity across  the state. Large parts of the state still are not on the rail map. Most of Kalyana Karnataka region suffered being part of Nizam’s province and thus little incentive both from Nizam administration and British government towards building railway lines. Gadag Wadi line approved for long time, yet has run aground because of the inability to acquire the necessary land. Kalburgi-Bidar line despite being opened for last 3 years or so hardly witnesses any traffic. Hardly a couple of passengers ply and at very low speed. No progress seems to happen or plans shelved for connectivity between Vjayapura-Shahabad or Belgavi- Raichur. All these lines have good prospect of linking different parts of Kalayana Karnataka as also between Mumbai Karnataka and Kalyana Karntaka.

Hosapete-Kottur could get connected to Harihar only recently. Ditto with Rayadurg linking to  Chitradurg only about 25 years back. There is strong need to link Davangere to Tumkur directly, despite the project being approved, hardly any land acquisition seems to have happened. Bangalore Chamrajnagar line with prospects for good local traffic ran into rough weather because it was part of Bangalore Satyamangalam project which ran through forest areas and environmental ministry did not grant clearance for conducting the survey. Despite wide potential for linking Karavali with Malnad and BKT regions, Talguppa-Honnavar remains a non-starter on ostensible environmental grounds. Hubli-Ankola can bring strong linkages between Mumbai/Kalyana Karnataka with the Karavali yet no solution seems to have been found to circumvent the environmental barriers. Kadur-Chikmaglur-Sakleshpur remains incomplete with no progress beyond Chikmaglur. Similarly connecting Shivamogga to northern parts of the state through a new line connecting to Harihar/ Ranibennur remains a non-starter. A shorter route between Dharwad to Belgaum has been announced yet given the past record, seems little to be optimistic around. Same seems to be case between Haveri and Gadag or Bagalkot and Kudachi. The progress between Gingera and Raichur has picked pace only in the last few years.  Bangalore-Hassan via Shravanabelagola is yet to live upto its potential whereas Hassan Mangalore ghat sections see such low speeds that trains seems to take more than three hours to cover a 50 km stretch.

The need for Indian railways is to break away from the past and go rapid modern technology adoption. If in Switzerland etc., hill trains can attain high speeds, no reason to justify why Indian trains follow low speeds. It must be prioritized to increase average speeds to over 70 kmph and maximum speeds to 130 kmph on the plain lines. A connectivity plan with dedicated railway investment fund can be thought off. The funds would be securitized and the returns linked to the profits of the railway lines.

Given the natural advantages of Karnataka in reference to its socio-economic structure and Bangalore being preferred hub of investment, there is no reason why Karnataka should not see a large investment in railway lines. Spillovers might be munificent. In fact, it might be difficult to visualize at the moment the full range of benefits that might accrue to different parts of the state once full connectivity is established. The surveys need to be approved rapidly and the approvals must translate into speedy beginning of work followed by time-bound completion with minimal cost and time overruns. If rail connectivity were not to remain a mirage to many towns and villages, a distinct possibility given historical precedent, current expertise does not allow luxury of experimenting with conformist opinion.