The elusive Blore-Mlore train

The elusive Blore-Mlore train
By G Manjusainath, DH News Service, Bangalore:
When will the much-anticipated Bangalore-Mangalore passenger train be back on the tracks? At least not on October 2, according to sources in the Indian Railways.

Not a stone appears to have moved in the higher-echelons of the Railways to resume the train as scheduled on October 2.
“We had sent proposals to the Railway Board to start the train on October 2. We are awaiting confirmation from the other end,” said General Manager of South Western Railway Praveen Kumar.
On contacting the office of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Deccan Herald was told that neither Bangalore nor any other place in Karnataka is on the itinerary of Mr Yadav for the next month.
Chairperson of the parliamentary committee on the Railways Basudeb Acharia is also not sure about the date.
“I wrote a letter to the Railway Minister 15 days ago on reintroducing the train services. I will find out what has happened to it. I think the matter would not linger on,” Mr Acharia said.
This time round, the biggest hurdle in the way of the Bangalore-Mangalore train is not landslides. Already, goods trains are being run profitably on the track.
Requesting anonymity, highly placed sources in the Railways said, “Passenger trains would affect the goods trains movement. The Railway Board is keen on running the full quota of goods trains because of the economics involved.”
The sources added that on an average four goods trains are running on the route every day, to their full capacity of 3,500 tonnes each.
The Hassan Mangalore Rail Development Company Limited (HMRDC), which is laying the railway network on the hostile terrains of Western Ghats, sees a virtual gold mine in ferrying cargo on this route.
According to HMRDC, “The Hassan-Mangalore line has a very promising future. The company expects cargo of around 1.5 to 2 million tonnes to be carried on the line in the first year of its operations. Roughly, 80 per cent of this cargo would be iron ore mined in the districts of Chitradurga and Tumkur and exported via the New Mangalore Port. Twenty per cent of the cargo comprises of imported coal, imported fertilizers and indigenous fertilizers from the Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers (MCF) moving from Mangalore area towards the Karnataka hinterland. Once operations stabilise the annual freight movement would cross six million tonnes.”
The only ray of hope for passenger traffic on the route is that the Railways has already publicised details of the trains that may run between Yeshwantpur and Mangalore.
The sources in the Railways said, “The first express train between Bangalore and Mangalore (6517/6518) will be through Mysore. Another train (6515/6516) take the Arsikere route. The third train will be a passenger train between Shravanabelagola and Mangalore.”
Yet, there is no word on the date of commencement of the passenger train service. esides, the strong lobby of private bus operators too is believed to be an impediment in the way of the passenger train.
According to sources in the state transport department, around 350 buses ply between Bangalore and Mangalore every day and 35-seater luxury buses charge each passenger a fare Rs 350 to Rs 400. On any given day, these private bus operators earn anywhere between Rs 45 lakh to Rs 55 lakh. The hand of the transporters’ lobby is also behind the delay in resuming the passenger train, the sources said.
For now, there appears to be no alternative to the bumpy ride by the pot-hole marked road between Bangalore and Mangalore. The moneyed, though, can afford to fly.
Revanna blames Poojary
PWD and Revenue Minister H D Revanna on Tuesday accused former Union minister and Congress leader Janardhan Poojary of being “hand in glove” with the bus and truck owners’ lobby in delaying the resumption of the Bangalore-Mangalore train.
Reacting to the charges levelled against his family members by Mr Poojary, Mr Revanna on Tuesday told mediapersons in Bangalore: “Poojary was a powerful man at the Centre, why did he not try for the early completion of the railway line? I will come out with more details at an appropriate time. Instead of frittering away his energy in criticising the Deve Gowda family, let Poojary concentrate on the development of Mangalore district.”
Further, Mr Revanna opined that criticising the Deve Gowda family has become a habit with Mr Poojary. “To prove his existence in Congress, Poojary has to constantly indulge in criticism of Deve Gowda. It is very well known that Poojary is tied to apron strings of the Indira Gandhi family. Instead of bothering about our party and family, let him pay attention to his party and home district,” he asserted.