Day train services on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Karwar sector are unlikely to resume on November 1, as announced earlier by South Western Railway (SWR) on May 15. The services were suspended for undertaking railway electrification (RE) on the 55-km Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road Ghat section.
“RE has not progressed as expected because of two landslips on the ghat section, one in June and another in August, following heavy rains,” said SWR’s Mysuru Divisional Railway Manager Mudit Mittal. Work is under progress between Donigal and Shiribagilu (32-km) after cancelling day trains for 154 days starting May 31.
RE work on Sakleshpur-Donigal (9-km) and Subrahmanya Road-Shiribagilu (14-km) was completed before the onset of monsoon.
Mr. Mittal told The Hindu that trains carrying equipment had to be used to clear landslip debris, thereby curtailing line blocks provided to Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) to execute the RE project. Consequently, the agency has sought extension of the block period for some more days and the zone has written to the Railway Ministry seeking its approval, the DRM said without indicating how many more days the blocks would be provided. It is, however, certain that the RE would not get completed by November 1, he added.
