SW Rly revenue up 30 per cent

The South Western Railway's (SWR) Hubli division has earned a revenue of Rs 2,351 crore in 2006-2007, registering an increase of 30 per cent. Divisional railway manager Rakesh Vatash said the division earned Rs 1,816.18 crore in 2005-2006. The division contributed 70 per cent of SWR's revenue.

Listing the achievements of the division on the occasion of the 52nd Railway Week, he said the number of passengers increased by 15 per cent during the last one year.

He said the work on expansion of the Hubli railway station commensurate with its news status as the headquarters of South Western Railway zone has commenced.

It will take another two years to be completed. The work began four years after Hubli was elevated as the head quarter of the SWR zone.

When completed at a cost of Rs 12 crore, the station will have a new building and three more platforms besides additional booking counters and other passenger amenities like cyber cafe.

Capacity constraints at the station had so far prevented the railway authorities from starting new trains at Hubli. At present, it has three through and two dead-end platforms, one exclusively for goods train.

One through and two dead-end platforms will be added after the expansion.

The expansion of the railway station was held up due to delays in shifting the goods shed to Navalur.

The Rs 9-crore project of setting up the goods shed at Navalur will be completed by March next year.

Vatash said upgradation of Belgaum railway station at a cost of Rs 3 crore, Vasco da Gama station at a cost of Rs 2 crore and two more 'A' grade stations at Hospet and Bellary are also planned.

Apart from these, five 'B' grade stations "" Gadag, Londa, Dharwad, Bijapur and Ghataprabha "" and two other stations at Toranagallu and Bagalkot will also get a facelift.