Railway department decides to extend Bangalore – Mangalore train to Karwar

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Sept. 21, 2012: The railway department has decided to extend the Bangalore to Mangalore night train to Karwar. The train will have 24 coaches when it arrives from Bangalore to Mangalore and will then proceed to Karwar with 12 bogies, say railway officials.

Just before the railway department made the above announcement, it conducted a test at Shiradi Ghat with the help of a railway research and development team from Lucknow. The train, with all its 24 coaches, was successfully run on Shiradi Ghat four times, following which the proposal received the railway department’s green signal.

The research and development team’s reports were presented to the railway safety commission, and the commission demanded clarification on certain issues. Railway sources say that once all these formalities are completed, the train will begin to operate.

The Bangalore to Mangalore night train was launched in 2007, and later in 2010, the department decided to extend it to Kannur instead of Karwar although the local people were demanding its extension to Karwar. Finally, the proposal to run a 24-coach train from Bangalore to Mangalore and then run 12 coaches to Karwar was made. At Mangalore, the train will be divided into 12 coaches each and two engines will be attached to each division. The two smaller trains will then proceed to Kannur and Karwar.

Jayaprakash Hegde, Udupi – Chikmagalur MP, who had been consistently following the issue of extending the train to Karwar, said that the people of the coastal regions will be glad about this new facility.