Rail users in coastal Karnataka who are upset with the Railway Board’s decision to cancel the existing Bengaluru-Karwar overnight express to introduce the Yeshwantpur-Karwar express are mulling filing a contempt plea in the High Court of Karnataka against the Railways.
The board, on March 6, ordered cancellation of Train Nos. 16513-14/ 16523-24 Bengaluru-Karwar Express via Kunigal and via Mysuru, respectively, that were operated as combined services with the Bengaluru-Kannur overnight express upon insistence from Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. (KRCL). This was done while announcing a dedicated train between Bengaluru and Karwar bypassing Mangaluru region via the Padil bypass.
Vivek Nayak from Kundapura Railu Prayanikara Hitarakshana Vedike pointed out that the Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Kannur overnight express was ordered to be extended to Karwar by the High Court in 2012.
Advocate Shankar Bhat and others filed a PIL petition before the High Court after the Railway Board decided to extend the Bengaluru-Mangaluru overnight express to Kannur, ignoring the Inter-Railway Timetable Committee’s recommendation in 2009 to extend it to Karwar. South Western Railway (SWR) then decided to bifurcate the train at Mangaluru Central and run one portion each to Kannur and Karwar from November 1, 2012.
When SWR did not introduce a direct train to Karwar after the Bengaluru-Hassan new line was opened in 2017, again people had to approach the High Court. On the PIL petition of Sanjay Revankar from Kadwad near Karwar, SWR decided to run the existing Bengaluru-Kannur/Karwar overnight express on four days via Kunigal and three days via the old route of Mysuru.
‘Policy violated’
Rail fan Kundapura Gautam Shetty of Bengaluru said the Railway Board had violated its own policy of consulting users before cancelling any existing train. The board or KRCL cannot assume that the existing train would lose patronage with the introduction of the new train, as both cater to different sets of passengers, he argued.
S. Yogendra Swamy from Mysuru Grahaka Parishat said the cancellation had snatched coastal connectivity from travellers in Ramanagaram, Mandya and Mysuru, thereby violating the Railways policy of not cancelling services without any alternative.
MP for Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Shobha Karandlaje too had expressed displeasure with the cancellation during the flagging off ceremony at Yeshwantpur on Saturday morning.
