Wadi junction swap puts spotlight on Kalaburagi’s demand for shift to SCR

Kalaburagi: As South Central Railway (SCR) seeks a swap with Central Railways (CR) for Wadi junction, people in Kalaburagi — who have also been demanding a railway division under South Western Railway (SWR) for years — say the move strengthens their case to shift the entire Wadi–Kalaburagi section to SCR, arguing that CR's control has created operational bottlenecks and slowed train services.People in Kalaburagi and neighbouring districts have long accused CR of discrimination, while SCR has responded to demands from Bidar, Yadgir and Raichur districts. CR sources said general managers of SCR and CR met in Aug 2023.
"SCR communicated the issue of taking over the SCR portion of Akola station and the Akola–Khandwa section by CR, and handing over Wadi junction station to SCR. The issue is under consideration between parent railways," they said.Kalaburagi former MP Umesh Jadhav wrote to railway minister in Oct 2023 seeking merger of Wadi–Kalaburagi–Tajsultanpur/Bablad with SCR. He said the zonal interchange points near Wadi and Kalaburagi "hamper smooth movement of freight trains" and block new passenger trains. He told TOI that the full 35–45 km Wadi–Kalaburagi section should be shifted to SCR for smoother movement of passenger and goods trains.Activist Sunil Kulkarni said Kalaburagi falls under the CR and SCR zones, and the Gadag–Wadi line will bring SWR into the district. "This is affecting the operation and extension of trains," he said, adding that merging Wadi and Kalaburagi junctions under one zone will reduce problems. He also said Kalaburagi, Shahabad and Wadi stations are not getting their due facilities. With the South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone coming up in Visakhapatnam, he said merging the Kalaburagi–Raichur section with SCR is urgent, as the Guntakal division is poised to operate under SCoR.CR CPRO Swapnil D Nila and SCR CPRO Sridhar A were unavailable for comment. SWR CPRO Manjunath Kanamadi said zone delimitation is under the purview of Railway Board.