Railway development committee demands separate Mangalore railway division

Railway development committee demands separate Mangalore railway division

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, February 3: In response to a memorandum submitted by the Mangalore Railway Development Action Committee, Oscar Fernandes, Rajya Sabha MP and senior Congress leader, has urged Mamatha Banerjee, the union railway minister, and K. H. Muniyappa, the state union minister, to establish a separate railway division for Mangalore with its headquarters in Mangalore.

The Mangalore Railway Development Action Committee had voiced its opinion that the West Coast has become a trunk line after the establishment of the Kanyakumari to Mumbai Konkan railway line. According to the memorandum, Mangalore is in the middle of this trunk line, saddled with an ancient railway station and forming a very important link between Kerala, Goa, Karnataka, and Maharashtra through this trunk line. Since Mangalore is also a transit place between Goa and Kerala, the Mangalore Railway Station as well as railway stations close to it need to be given a face lift in a bid to promote tourism in the area.

The memorandum also includes demands to double the railway line between Mangalore and Mumbai, construct a second railway track between Mangalore and Hassan, complete the Sharavanabelagola to Bangalore railway line, start a Mangalore to Shravanabelagola passenger train, provide railway connectivity from Mangalore to Bajpe Airport through Thokkur Railway Station, introduce a train from Hubli through the Londa – Kundapur-Mangalore junction to Bangalore, improve the Mangalore Railway Station, introduce a new Mangalore – Hyderabad express train through Arasikere – Chitradurga, and many more.