Patrons expect solutions to long-pending woes during Minister of State for Railways’s visit to Mangaluru
The Hindu
Meeting convened by Minister of State for Railways to address coastal Railway issues, lack of coordination between zones, and passenger complaints.
With Minister of State for Railways V. Somanna convening a meeting of heads of three Railway zones and people’s representatives of the region here on Wednesday, July 17, perhaps for the first time in recent times, patrons hope several vexed issues concerning coastal Railway facilities is likely to get addressed.
Being initiated at the instance of Capt. Brijesh Chowta, Dakshina Kannada MP, the meeting is expected to primarily address coordination between the three zones, Southern Railway which controls the Mangaluru Railway Region, the South Western Railway which controls the network between Padil–Subrahmanya Road and beyond towards Bengaluru, and the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd., whose network starts from Thokur, off Mangaluru and extends close to Mumbai. Passenger organisations believe lack of coordination between the three zones often leads to denial of fair treatment to the coastal region.
With the coastal MPs already writing to the Railway Ministry demanding the merger of KRCL with the Indian Railways as the former faces acute funds shortage to undertake any developmental work, the issue might be reflected in the meeting. Despite being one of the busiest routes and the most sought-after network, the Konkan route has not witnessed any infrastructure improvement ever since its commissioning three decades ago. While no line doubling took place severely crippling KRCL’s handling capacity, the corporation has to seek donors’ help to provide basic amenities in its stations, including Platform Shelters.
Southern Railway’s alleged step-motherly treatment in providing facilities in Mangaluru region and to augment services towards Mumbai and Bengaluru too is likely to be discussed in the meeting with people’s representatives receiving numerous complaints from passenger associations. Associations and patrons have told the representatives that the SR is only concerned about the revenue generated through the New Mangaluru Port and does not bother to introduce new trains towards Bengaluru or Mumbai or improve facilities at Mangaluru Central and Mangaluru Junction Stations.
Several issues, including the extension of a few trains from Mangaluru Junction to Mangaluru Central, speeding up of services, the introduction of already announced new trains, including that of Bhavnagar and Rameswaram, the introduction of commuter train service between Mangaluru and Karwar, capacity augmentation of Subrahmanya Road-Sakleshpur Ghat section, etc., are likely to be discussed in the meeting. General Managers of the SWR and SR, and the chairman and Managing Director of KRCL, and MPs and MLAs of the region will attend the meeting.