‘Merge Mangaluru-Thokur rail line with SWR’

Rail users from Mangaluru region have urged Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to pursue the long-pending issue of merger of the route between Mangaluru Central and Thokur railway stations with South Western Railway (SWR). This stretch is under Southern Railway.

A memorandum addressed to Mr. Yediyurappa was submitted by Hanumanth Kamath, president of Paschima Karavali Rail Yatri Abhivrudhi Samiti and member of Palakkad Railway Users Consultative Committee, and Rajiv Gaonkar, member of Konkan Railway Users Consultative Committee, to Sridhar Murthy, Special Officer in the office of the Chief Minister.

Mr. Kamath and Mr. Gaonkar said that as the Mangaluru railway network is under the Southern, South Western and Konkan railway zones, it is difficult for starting new trains or making modifications in existing trains by taking concurrence of the three zones.

Moreover, the Phalghat division of Southern Railway, which has jurisdiction over the Mangaluru Central-Thokur stretch, has not been answering the needs of commuters of the region. A demand for introduction of more trains towards other parts of the State and places in North India has not been considered by Southern Railway in successive Inter Zonal Railway Time Table conferences.

It is considering all these facts that the then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar ordered merger of the Mangaluru Central-Thokur stretch with South Western Railway during his visit to the city on December 28,2003. As gauge conversion was on in the Mangaluru-Hassan stretch, the Railway Board said on December 27, 2004 that the merger would happen after the completion of the work.

The gauge conversion work was completed in 2006 and passenger services started on the stretch in December 2007. As the Railway Board was silent, several representations were made demanding merger. South Western Railway wrote to the board in August 2014 stating that the merger was essential for proper management and seamless integration of traffic in the section.

The two activists asked Mr. Yediyurappa to persuade the Railway Board to hold a meeting and issue a notification on the merger of the stretch with South Western Railway.