The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) have called for laying another track on the stretch between Mangalore and Hassan on the Bangalore-Mangalore railway line.

The chamber believes that such a move will help increase the freight movement between New Mangalore Port and the hinterlands of Karnataka.

The KCCI team met Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda in New Delhi recently to apprise him of the need to double the railway line between Mangalore and Hassan, said Mohammed Ameen, President of KCCI.

The meeting of KCCI with the Railway Minister assumes significance as Gowda had stressed the need for developing a freight corridor between Mangalore and Bangalore in one of his meetings in Bangalore recently.

Despite the New Mangalore Port's proximity to the industrial hubs of Karnataka such as Mysore, Nanjanagud, Bellary and Hospet, the industries of those hubs are using the ports in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh because of the bottlenecks of rail-road connectivity to Mangalore, said Ameen.

To improve the rail connectivity to Mangalore, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) - Hassan Mangalore Rail Development Company (HMRDC) - was formed a few years ago with the Railways, the Karnataka Government and New Mangalore Port as major stakeholders in the project.

The SPV developed single line from Bantwal near Mangalore to Hassan. This line, which opened the rail connectivity between Mangalore and Bangalore, handles three rakes of goods train a day along with the regular passenger trains.

Ameen said that the SPV is earning profit and the movement of cargo from the New Mangalore port gives sufficient revenue to the Palghat division of Southern Railways.

However, the movement of goods traffic is saturated because of the ghat section between Mangalore and Hassan.

It is understood that the SPV has already made the estimate for doubling the line and not taken any action to implement it, he said, adding that there is no constraint of land acquisition for doubling the railway track.

He felt that the expansion projects of New Mangalore Port could generate additional 10 rakes a day of freight by 2016-17 and 20 rakes a day by 2018-19.