Mangaluru
District In-charge Minister Dinesh Gundurao has raised objections to the decision of the Railways to extend the Bengaluru–Kannur Train to Kozhikode.
Rao has sent a letter to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw seeking reconsideration of the decision and retaining services as before.
Train No. 16511 and 16512 is the only train service between Bengaluru and Kannur via Mangaluru. By extending the train to another destination about one and half hours away, additional demand for the same number of seats is being created. Three stations, Thalassery, Vadakara and Quilandi, are to be added between Kannur and Kozhikode. This will increase demand at all stations other than Kozhikode. Due to this extension, the availability of reserved berths will be drastically reduced, he said,By extending the train, the Railway Ministry is denying the people of Coastal Karnataka and Malabar a successful and in-demand train service, he noted.
Urging the ministry to reconsider its decision, the minister said, this may kindly be treated as a request from the Government of Karnataka, as well as thousands of people from coastal Karnataka. He also expressed concern over the railway ministry not considering the demand of people to extend Thiruvananthapuram–Kasaragod Vande Bharat Express to Mangaluru.
