Railway man of Karnataka
- C.K. Jaffer Sharief, who passed away on Sunday, will be remembered most for the pioneering role he played in heralding uni-gauge in India — an attempt to bring all of the country’s rail network under broad gauge.
- It was under his leadership that the Railways, in 1992, took the bold decision of getting rid of the multi-gauge system and following the uni-gauge policy of adopting broad gauge under Project Unigauge.
- It was during Mr. Sharief’s tenure that the voice of Karnataka was heard for the first time in Indian Railways. It was he who took the initiative to introduce broad gauge lines between Hosapete and Guntakal, Hassan and Mangaluru, Bengaluru and Guntakal, and Mysuru and Bengaluru. He started a record number of express trains between cities in Karnataka and other States.
