Railway commuters' organisations from coastal districts have sought introduction of nine new trains for the region.
In memorandums submitted to South Western Railway, Southern Railway, Konkan Railway and Infrastructure Development Department of Karnataka, the organisations under the banner of West Coast Rail Yathri Development Committee have also sought extension of a few trains and doubling of tracks. The committee has also sought creation of a bulb-line at Mangalore Central Station so that the trains that pass through Mangalore Junction (erstwhile Kankanady) Station are routed through it.
The committee has sought introduction of Bijapur-Mangalore (via Hubli-Londa-Madgaon), Vasco-Mangalore Passenger, Bhatkal-Mangalore-Subrahmanya Road DMU service, Mangalore-New Delhi Express on Konkan Railway route, Subrahmanya Road-Mangalore-Madgaon-Varanasi Express, Mangalore-Madgaon-Ahmedabad, Mangalore-Madgaon-Londa-Vishakapatnam-Howra, Vasco-Mangalore-Thirupati-Chennai, and Hubli-Subrahamnya Road trains.
It has sought partial extension of night service of Yeshwnthpur-Mangalore-Kannur Express to Karwar by bifurcating it in Mangalore, and Mumbai CSTM-Mangalore Junction Express to Subrahmanya Road. The committee wants increase in the frequency of Yeshwanthpur-Karwar Express (day train) from tri-weekly to daily.
The new projects expected for the region are doubling of Konkan Railway line with additional allocations for Mangalore –Panambur line doubling and doubling of Hassan-Mangalore line so that more passenger trains can be operated between Mangalore and Bangalore. The committee has stressed the need to develop Subramanya Road station.
Convener of the committee Anil Hegde said the bulb-line at Central Railway Station would ensure that trains could pass through it without having to reverse as was the case now. When that was done, trains that passed only through Mangalore junction could be diverted via Mangalore Central Station. He said when Mangalore Central would be developed as a world class station as announced in 2009 Railway budget, it would emerge as a hub of activity. To construct a bulb-line, there was no need for significant acquisition of land.
Without a bulb-line, most Mangaloreans were forced to use Mangalore Junction as a majority of important in transit trains arrived and departed from only that station, he said.
Udupi Railway Yatri Sangha president R.L. Dias has sought a halt at Udupi for Kochuveli-Amritsar, Kochuveli-Dehradun, and the recently introduced Pune-Panvel-Mangalore-Ernakulam train. He wants addition of three coaches to Mangalore-Verna-Mangalore train during the festival season from November 1 to June 10.
On its part, the committee observed that the Railways did not show interest in starting train service from this station towards northern destinations from the coastal region.
It added that the costal people's dream to travel from Konkan area to south interior Karnataka had not yet been realised.
The committee reiterated the demand for attaching Mangalore to Mysore Division of South Western Railway. It is now part of Palakkad division of Southern Railway.
