A trip undertaken by railfans Kunal Doddanavar, Pawan Koppa, Santosh Kulkarni and Shishir Jairam to cover the status of the works-in-progress on the Nelamangala-Shravanabelagola line, a vital link to reduce the journey time between the IT capital, Bangalore and important port city, Mangalore. While the line between Hassan and Shravanabelagola was completed 5 years back and was operated for a few months, it was shut immediately after. On the other end, the line between Chikbanavar in Bangalore and Nelamangala on the city's outskirts was completed more than 2 years back, but no train has seen the "light" of this line yet. This album covers the work in progress between these two points - Nelamangala and Shravanabelagola. A line which may take many more months / years to complete!
Another view of the bridge over the lake. (Pawan Koppa)
Another view of the bridge facing the highway. (Pawan Koppa)
A view of the alignment towards Yediyur. The Yediyur station is located beyond the hill at the far background of the picture. (Pawan Koppa)
ROB completed and Channarayapatna station work in progress. (Kunal.S.Doddanavar)
Work from the MYS divison side has been pretty fast, the track are laid near Shravanabelagola. (Shishir Jairam)
All set ofr laying of tracks. (Shishir Jairam)
Some RDSO certified 60 kg sleepers were placed on the alignment at the proposed Channarayapatna station. These were extra wide presumably for laying of points. (Pawan Koppa)
Huge mounds of ballast were almost completely covered by creepers which indicated that they had been there for a very, very long time and were yet to see any use. (Pawan Koppa)
As we move ahead from Channarayapatna towards the "final point of this new" line, Shravanabelagola, we encounter work in various stages enroute. Dumper lorries unload mud to build up elevation. (Pawan Koppa)
A normal person would be forgiven if he thought this was the base being laid for a new Expressway :-) Work happening on the bangalore-Mangalore Highway four-laning nearby looked pretty similar. This however is a path meant only for heavy metal beasts to t
This time a tractor does the job of moving earth to fill up the void in the elevation! (Pawan Koppa)
The dumper lorry is back for its next load. Work was happening non stop at breakneck speed especially between Channarayapatna and Shravanabelagola which falls under Mysore division. (Pawan Koppa)
Further progress of line and in the backdrop is the world famous 57ft monolothic statue of Lord Gomateshwara. (Kunal.S.Doddanavar)
Another view of the Gomateshwara overshadowing the railway line, it would be a lovely view of ALCO's/ EMD's moving and the statue towering it. (Shishir Jairam)
The final few kms as we approach Shravanabelagola! While the mighty lord Gomateswara towers over the hill in the far background of the picture, tracks from Shravanabelagola as fast approaching the newly dug area of the alignment. This picture was clicked