railhead that is located just from the main town. Bijapur railway station is connected by a broad-gauge railway (Gadag–Hotgi railway line) to Hotgi Junction near Solapur railway station and Kurduvadi railway station on Central Railway towards the north and to Bagalkote and Gadag junction on South Western Railway towards the south. Bijapur is connected with direct trains to Solapur, Bagalkote, Gadag, Dharwad, Ballari, Yeswanthpur (Bangalore), Hubli, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Bijapur comes under Hubli division of South Western Railway (SWR) Direct railway line to Gulbarga and Belgaum Bijapur–Shahabad is a proposed new railway line (via Devar Hippargi, Sindgi, Jewargi) and was sanctioned in the state budget of 2010–11. Bijapur–Shedbal is a proposed new railway line (via Tikota, Athani, Shedbal) survey has been completed and submitted to South Western Railway Hubli GoK's intention is to develop Bijapur - Gulbarga belt as a cement & steel hub, which has created a need for a direct railway line between Bijapur and Shahabad. This would also be able to carry coal from the Jharkhand and Singareni collieries for NTPC's 4000 MW Power Project in Kudagi (Basavana Bagewadi Taluk). The Bijapur–Shahabad line would run and be under the South Western Railway. Partial private sector financing is required; however, state government will contribute two-thirds of the project cost of the railway line, which is estimated at Rs. 12 billion over the first five years, in a role as an investor in return for a share in the profits. Similar proposal has been made for sugar belt on the Bijapur Athani Belgaum new line, which will also provide shorter connectivity from Goa to Solapur, Gulbarga, Bidar, Nagpur, Kolkata. The line would run and be under South Western Railway, if project is taken into consideration it will be on 50:50 cost sharing basis on both state and railways Air Transport The nearest airport is at Gulbarga (152 km). Many airlines connect Bijapur to the rest of India via this airport. A greenfield airport which can accommodate ATR 72 & Airbus 320 (expansion afterwards) is currently being built by Karnataka government. Land has already been acquired. Bijapur Airport will be built by the Karnataka State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (KSIIDC) at a cost of Rs 220 crore. The project site is located 15 km from the city on of land in Madhubavi villages. The construcion has strarted and airport is expected to be ready by early 2022. Education