Wait for Hospete-Kottur passenger train to end on Oct 17

Hubballi: After two-and-half decades, passenger trains will start plying between Harihar and Hosapete via Kotturu from Thursday. This section will cut down travel time between Bengaluru and Hosapete. This line will also connect the Bengaluru-Hubballi main line to the Hubballi-Guntakal line.
In the 19th century, the then British rulers had developed a railway line between Hosapete and Kotturu to export cotton from Kotturu.Passenger trains were also being run on this section till 1994. That year, railway minister C K Jaffer Sharief sanctioned a broad-gauge for this section and subsequently operation of trains was stalled to take up the work. He had also extended the line till Harihar.
Ironically, then railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge had inaugurated a passenger train on the new Harihar-Kotturu line in March 2014 itself. Due to one or the other reason, the old Kotturu-Hosapete line could not be completed till 2016, after which freight trains were started. Due to a technical glitch between Tungabhadra Dam and Gunda Road stations, South Western Railway (SWR) could not run passenger trains on this line.
Veteran novelist and Kotturu resident Kum Veerabhadrappa said he is prepared to travel to Hosapete on the train’s inauguration day itself.
“We had protested against then railway minister Jaffer Sharief in 1993 for cancelling the passenger train on this line citing low patronage. Later the agitation became a people’s movement to get a broad-gauge line. However, due to lack of interest among local politicians, the work was dragged for 25 years, which is a shame for every one of the region. Now SWR is launching a passenger train from Hosapete to Harihar but it should start from Ballari so that lakhs of passengers of both the districts can benefit,” he said.
“If this line had been opened when the mining industry booming, railways could have run freight trains and cut the distance to reach Mangaluru and Ankola ports by 160km,” he added.
Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee member and Hosapete resident Babulal Jain thanked SWR for finally re-introducing the passenger train in the hinterland. “This line will help connect heritage sites like Vijayapura, Badami (Aihole-Pattadkal) and Hosapete (Hampi) with Bengaluru if a train is started from Vijayapura to Bengaluru via Gadag, Hosapete, Kotturu, Harihar and Davangere,” he added.
Ballari District Chamber of Commerce and Industry president V Ravi Kumar said the passenger train will enhance economy of the region. “It was a long pending demand of businessmen and commoners,” he added.
About Kotturu
Kotturu, about 200 km from Hubballi, is a cotton industry hub. The Kottureshwara temple here attracts lakhs of people from all over the state. Legend has it that Mughal king Akbar was also a devotee of saint Kottureshwara. With the inauguration of the passenger train, people of Hyderabad-Karnataka will be connected with central, Malnad and coastal regions of the state by train.
Inauguration
Minister of state for railways Suresh Angadi will inaugurate the Hosapete-Kotturu passenger train at 11am at Hosapete railway station in the presence of deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi and other elected representatives on Thursday.