Parliament Question: Railway Connectivity to Ballari and Hospet Junctions

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 675 TO BE ANSWERED ON 22.07.2026 RAILWAY CONNECTIVITY TO BALLARI AND HOSPET JUNCTIONS 675. SHRI E TUKARAM: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the details of the action taken by the Government on the proposals for improving railway connectivity to Ballari and Hospet Junctions in Karnataka including introduction of new train services, Vande Bharat train, increase in the frequency of existing trains and replacement of old coaches including the present status of each proposal; (b) whether the Government proposes to approve and implement any of these proposals keeping in view the importance of Ballari and Hospet as major industrial, mining and tourism centres; and (c) if so, the details thereof including likely timeline for implementation and if not, the reasons therefor? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (c) Indian Railways (IR), constantly endeavours to improve connectivity on its network and to this end, IR have introduced the following 06 pairs of regular train services to cater to the needs of passengers of Ballari and Hosapete stations: SN Train No. and Name w.e.f. 1 17071/17072 Hyderabad - Belagavi Express (via Ballari - 21.05.2026 Hosapete) 2 17073/17074 Secunderabad - Belagavi Express 18.05.2026 (via Ballari - Hosapete) § Page 1 of 73 17075/17076 Charlapalli - Belagavi Express (via Ballari - 16.05.2026 Hosapete) 4 76511/76512 Hosapete - Ballari DEMU 11.05.2026 5 76507/76508 Hosapete - Hubballi DEMU 10.05.2026 6 76509/76510 Ballari - Davangere DEMU 11.05.2026 Presently, Ballari and Hosapete stations are served by 48 and 54 train services respectively which are providing connectivity inter alia to cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mysuru, Tirupati, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Vasco- Da-Gama, Hyderabad, Vijayapura, etc. The list of trains serving Ballari and Hosapete stations are as under: Train serving Ballari: SN Train No. and Name 1 12649 Yesvantpur - Hazrat Nizamuddin Express 2 12650 Hazrat Nizamuddin - Yesvantpur Express 3 16531 Ajmer - KSR Bengaluru Express 4 16532 KSR Bengaluru - Ajmer Express 5 16533 Jodhpur - KSR Bengaluru Express 6 16534 KSR Bengaluru - Jodhpur Express 7 16591 Hubballi - Mysuru Express 8 16592 Mysuru - Hubballi Express 9 17039 Secunderabad - Vasco Da Gama Express 10 17040 Vasco Da Gama - Secunderabad Express 11 17071 Hyderabad - Belagavi Express 12 17072 Belagavi - Hyderabad Express 13 17073 Secunderabad - Belagavi Express 14 17074 Belagavi - Secunderabad Express 15 17075 Charlapalli - Belagavi Express Page 2 of 716 17076 Belagavi - Charlapalli Express 17 17225 Narasapur - Hubballi Express 18 17226 Hubballi - Narasapur Express 19 17313 Hubballi - MGR Chennai Central Express 20 17314 MGR Chennai Central - Hubballi Express 21 17321 Vasco Da Gama - Jasidih Express 22 17322 Jasidih - Vasco Da Gama Express 23 17329 Hubballi - Vijayawada Express 24 17330 Vijayawada - Hubballi Express 25 17415 Tirupati - Kolhapur Express 26 17416 Kolhapur - Tirupati Express 27 17419 Tirupati - Vasco Da Gama Express 28 17420 Vasco Da Gama - Tirupati Express 29 18047 Shalimar - Vasco Da Gama Express 30 18048 Vasco Da Gama - Shalimar Express 31 18111 Tatanagar - Yesvantpur Express 32 18112 Yesvantpur - Tatanagar Express 33 20667 Yesvantpur - Khatipura Express 34 20668 Khatipura - Yesvantpur Express 35 22687 Mysuru - Varanasi Express 36 22688 Varanasi - Mysuru Express 37 56911 Hubballi - Guntakal Passenger 38 56912 Guntakal - Hubballi Passenger 39 57401 Tirupati - Hubballi Passenger 40 57402 Hubballi - Tirupati Passenger 41 57405 Tirupati - Kadiridevarapalli Passenger 42 57406 Kadiridevarapalli - Tirupati Passenger Page 3 of 743 57415 Guntakal - Chikjajur Passenger 44 57416 Chikjajur - Guntakal Passenger 45 76509 Ballari - Davangere DMU 46 76510 Davangere - Ballari DMU 47 76511 Hosapete - Ballari DMU 48 76512 Ballari - Hosapete DMU Train serving Hosapete: SN Train No. and Name 1 11139 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) - Hosapete Express 2 11140 Hosapete - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (T) Express 3 11415 Solapur - Hosapete Express 4 11416 Hosapete - Solapur Express 5 12649 Yesvantpur - Hazrat Nizamuddin Express 6 12650 Hazrat Nizamuddin - Yesvantpur Express 7 16217 Mysuru - Sainagar Shirdi Express 8 16218 Sainagar Shirdi - Mysuru Express 9 16531 Ajmer - KSR Bengaluru Express 10 16532 KSR Bengaluru - Ajmer Express 11 16533 Jodhpur - KSR Bengaluru Express 12 16534 KSR Bengaluru - Jodhpur Express 13 16545 Yesvantpur - Sindhanur Express 14 16546 Sindhanur - Yesvantpur Express 15 16547 Yesvantpur - Vijayapura Express 16 16548 Vijayapura - Yesvantpur Express 17 16591 Hubballi - Mysuru Express 18 16592 Mysuru - Hubballi Express Page 4 of 719 17039 Secunderabad - Vasco Da Gama Express 20 17040 Vasco Da Gama - Secunderabad Express 21 17071 Hyderabad - Belagavi Express 22 17072 Belagavi - Hyderabad Express 23 17073 Secunderabad - Belagavi Express 24 17074 Belagavi - Secunderabad Express 25 17075 Charlapalli - Belagavi Express 26 17076 Belagavi - Charlapalli Express 27 17225 Narasapur - Hubballi Express 28 17226 Hubballi - Narasapur Express 29 17313 Hubballi - MGR Chennai Central Express 30 17314 MGR Chennai Central - Hubballi Express 31 17321 Vasco Da Gama - Jasidih Express 32 17322 Jasidih - Vasco Da Gama Express 33 17329 Hubballi - Vijayawada Express 34 17330 Vijayawada - Hubballi Express 35 17415 Tirupati - Kolhapur Express 36 17416 Kolhapur - Tirupati Express 37 17419 Tirupati - Vasco Da Gama Express 38 17420 Vasco Da Gama - Tirupati Express 39 18047 Shalimar - Vasco Da Gama Express 40 18048 Vasco Da Gama - Shalimar Express 41 56519 KSR Bengaluru - Hosapete Passenger 42 56520 Hosapete - KSR Bengaluru Passenger 43 56529 Harihar - Hosapete Passenger 44 56530 Hosapete - Harihar Passenger 45 56911 Hubballi - Guntakal Passenger Page 5 of 746 56912 Guntakal - Hubballi Passenger 47 57401 Tirupati - Hubballi Passenger 48 57402 Hubballi - Tirupati Passenger 49 76507 Hosapete - Hubballi DMU 50 76508 Hubballi - Hosapete DMU 51 76509 Ballari - Davangere DMU 52 76510 Davangere - Ballari DMU 53 76511 Hosapete - Ballari DMU 54 76512 Ballari - Hosapete DMU Besides, introduction of new train service/increase in frequency of existing services, including Vande Bharat services on any route/section, which is an on-going process, depends on various factors which include:  Capacity of that section.  Availability of path.  Availability of required rolling stock.  Availability of matching infrastructure for rolling stock.  Maintenance requirement of railway tracks and other assets.  Occupancy and the traffic requirement of the section. Replacement of old coaches: Indian Railways (IR) are replacing the old ICF design coaches with the LHB coaches which are technologically superior with features like Anti climbing arrangement, Air suspension (Secondary) with failure indication system and less corrosive shell. These coaches have higher speed potential as well as better riding and aesthetics as compared to the conventional ICF coaches. Production of LHB Coaches during 2014-26 vis a vis 2004-14 is as under: Period LHB coaches manufactured 2004-14 2,337 nos. 2014-26 49,366 nos. (more than 21 times) Page 6 of 7The replacement of ICF coaches with LHB Coaches is being undertaken in a phased manner subject to operational feasibility, availability of rolling stock etc. Accordingly, during the period 2014-15 to 2025-26, around 1060 pairs of trains have been converted utilising more than 1500 rakes. Besides, on IR only those Coaches which are fit and safe for operations are attached in train services. Replacement of old Coaches with new coaches is a continuous process depending on age profile of old coaches, availability of rolling stock etc. ***** Page 7 of 7