Mangalore–Hassan–Mysore line

The main railway line from Hassan to Mangalore section was originally built as a metre-gauge line and was opened in small sections between 1976 and 1977, inaugurated finally on 20 May 1979 for passenger transportation. 17 years later it was closed for gauge conversion, on 20 September 1996.[1] The ghat sub-section between Sakleshpur and Subrahmanya Road was considered a challenging section. The gauge conversion of this section was handed over to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), formed for the task – the Hassan Mangalore Rail Development Company Limited (HMRDC). The company has the Government of Karnataka and the Railway Ministry as majority stakeholders, while Mangalore port trust and a couple of other bodies as minority stakeholders.[2]

The gauge conversion took a very long time and is marked in red-letters in the Indian Railways' history. Although the first section after the conversion was opened in January 1998, the rest of the works were done at very slow pace. The first sub-section to be opened was Hassan Junction – Sakleshpur, a distance of about 42 km. The next stretch to be inaugurated was between Mangalore Central and Kabaka Puttur, a distance of about 44 km, opened in December 2003. Another section of the line from Kabaka Puttur to Subrahmanya Road, 42 km, was opened in July 2005. The remaining final stretch (Sakleshpur–Subrahmanya), a ghat section with 1 in 55 grades all along, was opened in May 2006 for freight services and in December 2007 for passenger operations.

As per the Railway Budget 1995–96, the Hassan–Mysore section was also proposed to gauge conversion to 5ft 6in broad gauge.[3] Before that, the Hassan–Mysore section was also opened on 3 January 1918 as a metre-gauge line.[4]

There is a proposal for doubling the Mangalore–Hassan–Mysore line with electrification for reduction of time travelling between the coastal and plateau regions of Karnataka which will be a boon for the economy on this route.[5][6]