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Times
of India - 7/12/2003
Shimoga: Back in the1938, the British discovered the rich malnad
forests. They also discovered the Jog Falls. So they did what they
were best at - laid a train track from Shimoga to Talaguppa, just 12km
from the falls.
A train was set on the tracks for a purpose: to transport wooden logs
from malnad forests to make railway sleepers, besides allowing people
access to the famous waterfall.
The short rail route opened the doors to the malnad, and is packed
with history. Kings and prime ministers have shunted back and forth on
it, to enjoy the majesty of the Jog even before the Linganamakki dam
was constructed. Maharajas krishnaraja Wadiyar, Jayachamaraja Wadiyar,
Dewan Sir Mirza Ismail, Sir M. Visvevaraya, then prime ministers Lal
Bahadur Shastry and Morarji Desai, ambassadors from America and
Britain made sure that they visited Talaguppa. Prime minister Shastry
traveled with other VIPs from Bangalore to Sagar in 1964, to
inaugurate the Sharavathi power station.
The train has also contributed its mite to the historical struggle of
the malnad - the 'Kagodu Satyagraha' which gave voice to suppressed
farmers of the state declaring that the "tiller is the owner of the
land", Socialist Ram Manohar Lohia took the train and was arrested at
Sagar station on June 13, 1951.
Today, the heritage train still puffs between the 2 station, on the
same meter gauge laid by the British. But now, it is a source of
agitation - the people are demanding that the broad gauge be extended
from Shimoga to Talaguppa, and linked to konkan railway.
Railway authorities have neither rejected nor taken it seriously. A
few lakhs have been sanctioned for the conversion project, but no work
has begun.
The train, a 2 bogey chair car with 52 seater capacity, ferries few
passengers, a majority ticketless, causing heavy loss to the railways.
The 82km journey, which takes just over an hour by road, stretches to
3 hrs and 45 mins on the train, which chugs at snail speed. It starts
at 6am, and touches Talaguppa at 9.45am. It returns to Shimoga every
night.
The train, complain railway authorities, has become a white elephant.
Lakhs are spent towards maintenance and salaries of more than 120
staff, 17 gauge keepers and staff a Sagar and Talaguppa stations.
But the people are firm, they don't want history to be dismantled so
fast. As Na.D'Souza, writer and novelist leading the agitation said,
the railways conducted a survey to link the route to konkan railway
long ago, but kept cold storage, As the authorities dill-dally, the
train looks ready to join the railway museum.
