Inter-city trains in coastal Karnataka yet to resume

Team Udayavani, Jan 11, 2021, 9:23 AM IST

Mangaluru: The Railway Board has not granted permission to resume the Kasargod-Mangaluru and Madgaon-Mangaluru passenger trains causing a lot of problems to students and local travellers in coastal Karnataka.

Since the phased Unlock system was implemented, things have returned to normalcy and discontinued trains have also being run as special trains.

All seven suburban trains from Bengaluru have been started from December 8. However, the Railway Board is reportedly hesitant to resume passenger trains operating from Kasaragod and the State’s coastal areas which are very useful and necessary for the people living there.

The two important train services that were serving as the lifeline for coastal Karnataka were the Mangaluru-Madgaon DEMU train and the Mangaluru-Madgaon passenger train.

The Mangaluru-Madgaon DEMU left Madgaon at 5 am and reached Mangaluru Central at 12:05 pm and left Mangaluru at 2:45 pm and reached Madgaon at 10:30 am in its return shuttle.

While the Mangaluru-Madgaon passenger train left Mangaluru at 5:30 am and reached Madgaon at 12:40 pm and departed Madgaon at 1 pm and reached Mangaluru at 9:20 pm.

Apart from these trains, the Chervaturu-Mangaluru and Kannur-Mangaluru passenger trains were a convenient and cheap mode of transit for students, employees and business travellers.

In the absence of these passenger trains, students have to spend more money for travelling using bus services. Many students have even started staying in hostels and PGs in Mangaluru.

Some special trains run on this route but with stops at limited stations.

“Thousands of students and employees travel daily between Kasaragod and Mangaluru in passenger trains. It was beneficial to the public as well. Now school and colleges have restarted. Soon a meeting of the Railway Travellers Committee of the Palakkad railway division will be held. The committee will demand the resumption of all these passenger trains, which were shut down in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Hanumanth Kamath, member of Palakkad Division Railway Travelers Advisory Committee.