The Hindu : Kerala News : Mangalore-Bangalore rail line to benefit North Kerala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 14, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Mangalore-Bangalore rail line to benefit North Kerala

By Our Staff Reporter

KASARAGOD, NOV. 13. Once the newly laid Mangalore-Bangalore railway track is commissioned, people from northern Kerala are sure to prefer the new railway route to travel to Bangalore or Chennai. Moreover, the new rail route will reduce the travelling distance between Mangalore and Chennai.

Mangalore and Bangalore were linked by a meter-gauge train service via Hassan.

However, this service was terminated about seven years ago to facilitate the gauge conversion.

Broad-gauge work

The work on the 500-km broad gauge between the two cities has entered its final stages and is expected to be commissioned by March next year.

The distance from Mangalore to Chennai in Southern Railway route, via Palakad, is about 900 km and the running time between the two destinations around 18 hours.

But the distance between the two cities via Bangalore would only be 725 km and the running time just under 13 hours.

This reduced distance and time in the South Western Railway are sure to help passengers from in and around Kasaragod and Kannur.

Re-routing likely

There are chances of rerouting some trains bound for Bangalore through the new railway line, according to the Kasaragod stationmaster, M.K. Shylendran.

The train service through new route is sure to eat into the collection of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and the private bus operators, industry sources said.

With the commissioning of the new railway track Mangalore will be delinked from the Southern Railway Zone and merged into the South-West Railway Zone.

The Palakkad railway division, coming under the Southern Railway, also would lose heavily on account of this, as Mangalore is one of the profit centres of the division, they said.

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