South Western Railway (SWR) has achieved the highest ever electrification of 712 route kilometre in a year and the highest ever originating gross revenue of ₹7,509 crore, General Manager of South Western Railway Sanjeev Kishore has said.
Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Thursday, Mr. Sanjeev Kishore said that a major thrust has been given to high quality railway infrastructure and between January and December of 2022, new line has been laid for 22 km, while 210 km of line doubling has been completed.
In the present year (2023), doubling of the Londa-Miraj section and Hubballi-Chikjajur are targeted to be completed by February and March respectively, he said and added that this will mean that the entire railway section from Miraj to Bengaluru will be a double line.
He said that the railway zone has registered 94% punctuality and has also emerged as the best among the railway zones in terms of mobility improvement. The average speed of goods train has increased by 58% in the railway zone when compared to 2021, he said.
In terms of passenger revenue, the zone has registered the highest ever revenue of ₹2,534 crore. The highest ever automobile loading of 405 rakes, an increase of 70% over last year, has been achieved by the zone, he said.
Stands second
Mr. Sanjeev Kishore said that the railway zone stands second among all the railway zones in the country in key performance indices.
“Sangnal-Kushtagi (34 km) section of the Gadag-Wadi project, Karatagi-Sindhanur (18 km) section of Ginigera-Raichur new line project are targeted to be completed in 2023. Work is in progress in the Khajjidoni-Lokapur (9 km) section of the Bagalkot-Kudachi new line project. Further EPC tender has already being floated for the Lokapur-Yadavad section. The first phase (20 km) of the Tumakuru-Davangere project has already commenced,” he said.
Mr. Sanjeev Kishore said that for the convenience of people participating in the 86th Akhila Bharat Kannada Sahitya Sammelan in Haveri, special trains are being run between Benglauru and Hubballi with stoppage to Haveri. Seven long distance express trains have been given additional stoppages at Haveri, in addition to running DEMU special trains, he said.
Chief Public Relations Officer Aneesh Hegde and other officials were present.
source/content: thehindu.com