MANGALURU: Mangaluru city will soon get three more express trains through extensions, including a new day-time train to Bengaluru, and Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has agreed to the proposals.
Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said on Thursday that the Tirupati-Hassan train and the Mumbai-Goa Jan Shatabti Express will be extended till Mangaluru apart from the new day-time train.
Kateel was speaking before flagging off an inaugural special train to Kabaka Puttur from Mangaluru Central station on Thursday along with Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath and Mayor Bhaskar K.
The inaugural special will run till Kabaka Puttur and the new tri-weekly express train 16585/16586 Yeshwantpur-Mangaluru Central -Yeshwantpur will commence its regular service from Mangaluru Central on Friday.
The MP said all unmanned level crossings have been eliminated and stations have ben turned into Swacch stations. Wi-fi facility has been enabled across stations of Indian Railways. Dakshina Kannada on whole has received railway projects to the tune of `1,500 crore in last five years. And Mangaluru city has got railway projects worth `80 crore, he added.
The MP said the Mangaluru junction railway station will be upgraded into a world class railway station. “I have also been pursuing for an exclusive division for Mangaluru,” he added. On the inconvenient timings for the tri-weekly express starting from Yeshwantpur, he said most of the railway rakes were mobilised for Kumbh Mela. Apart from realigning the timings, the railway minister has also agreed to turn the new express into a daily train in the next railway time table, the MP added.
Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath pointed out the need to develop Subrahmanya Road station into a halting station.