Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Jul 8: As union minister of railway D V Sadananda Gowda gets ready to present his first rail budget, expectations are sky high in the twin districts of Dakshina Kannada, where he hails from, and Udupi. Railway Passengers Welfare Forum based in Kundapur, which has some appreciable achievements backed by sustained efforts and action plans in its kitty, has charted several demands for the train travellers from this part of the district. Whether its efforts towards meeting its demands will bear fruits, will be known once the railway budget is presented in the parliament later today.

At present, Mangalore happens to be under the control of Palakkad division which falls under southern railway zone, which also utilises Konkan railway line that passes through this town. Because of this, Konkan Railway Corporation loses around Rs 300 crore annually. Mangalore railway station is now sandwiched between south western railway, southern railway, and Konkan railway. If it is brought out of the purview of southern railway and included in Konkan railway division, Konkan Railway would be able to earn an annual additional revenue of Rs 300 crore. The forum argues that this will rejuvenate Konkan Railway, which is facing fund crunch on account of different reasons including the above.

Another track needs to be added to Konkan Railay line, as it happens to be busy now. As the stretch of the line between Mangalore and Kundapur does not have any tunnel, upgradation of this stretch through electrification can result in cutting the travel time, the Forum says. The Forum has also submitted its proposal for upgrading of the local railway station to the central government. It is also to be seen as to whether its demands for improving connecting roads to the railway stations that are in a neglected state, asphalting them, providing street lights etc would be met by the budget.

Recently elected member of parliament from Udupi constituency, Shobha Karandlaje, has been apprised of all these issues. The fact that union railway minister, D V Sadananda Gowda, was representing this constituency earlier, has heightened expectations of the people from the railway budget for this region.

Members of the above forum have fought for sanctioning halt for several trains moving on this line at the local railway station, but because of various reasons, they have not succeeded to the level expected. The fact that MP from Udupi was not a local, and members of the forum did not have enough knowledge about railway rules, had turned out to be disadvantageous for them. After Jayaprakash Hegde got elected from Udupi Lok Sabha constituency, the committee got a chance to ably present its demands to the centre. Due to these efforts, the Bangalore-Mangalore train was extended to Karwar, and the train from Mangalore to CST Mumbai started to halt here. Mangala Express to New Delhi began stopping here, new inter-city train was introduced between Madgaon and Mangalore, apart from the fact that DMU was extended till Madgaon, the Forum claims.

The forum has put forth its demand for separate railway division for Mangalore, running of train between Karwar and Yashwantpur every day, and daily passenger train which connects all the temple towns like Hubli, Londa, Goa, Karwar, Gokarn, Murdeshwar, Idagunji, Kollur, Kundapur, Udupi, Mangalore, Dharmasthala Road and Subrahmanya. Another demand of the form relates to introduction a new passenger train between Vasco and Mangalore. Demand to bring Mangalore port, Mangalore Junction, and Panambur railway stations within the purview of the proposed division has also been included.

At present, several trains pass through Konkan railway line, but revenue from these trains goes to southern railway. If Konkan Railway is to achieve progress and recover from its financial crisis, Mangalore has to be brought under Konkan Railway. Once this happens, Konkan Raiwlay Corporation will get funds for adding another track to its lines, improve connecting roads, and take up electrification of tracks. As their own representative is now the railway minister, every citizen from this area hopes that this budget will meet their expectations and aspirations, says convener of Railway Travellers Welfare Forum Kundapur, Kenchanur Somashekhar Shetty.