Union Minister of Railways Mallikarjun Kharge will commission the newly laid broad gauge railway line of Chikmagalur-Kadur section and flag off the Chikmagalur-Kadur-Shimoga town passenger train on Tuesday at the Chikmagalur railway station at 1.30 pm.
A press release stated that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will preside over the function. MP H D Deve Gowda, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of Road Transport Oscar Fernandes, Chairman of legislative council D H Shankarmurthy, Union Minister of Minority Affairs K Rahman Khan, Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises K H Muniyappa, District Minister of Chikmagalur K Abhay Chandra Jain, M P K Jayaprakash Hegde, MLA C T Ravi and others will be present.
The Kadur-Chikmagalur-Sakleshpur new line project of 92.2 kms length was sanctioned during 1996-97 at Rs 157 crore. The phase I of Kadur-Chikmagalur of 45.125 kms was taken up in 1999-2000. However, the work was delayed due to the inadequate allotment of funds and delay in land acquisition. The work got the much needed bost with the state government’s contribution of 50 per cent of its share in April 2010.
With the commissioning of the Chikmagalur-Kadur new railway line of South Western railway joining to Hubli-Bangalore city main line, district headquarters of Chikmangalur is getting connected to the rail network.
The train from Chikmagalur will pass through Bisalehalli, Sakarayapatna and Kanivehalli villages of Chikmagalur district. With the introduction of the Chikmagalur-Kadur-Shimoga town passenger train, the local public will get better connectivity to Hubli, Mumbai and Bangalore city from Kadur.