KASARAGOD: “Somewhere someone heard our anguished voices and did something. A second daily train means more family reunions, more festivals spent together and relief from the feeling helplessness of being stuck far from home,” said Ashwin Pavery, a Kozhikode native now based in Bengaluru, after learning that the Kannur-Bengaluru train via Hassan has been extended to Kozhikode.
Like Ashwin, there are thousands from the Malabar region who have made their way to the capital of Karnataka for higher studies and work but feel cut off from their home state due to lack of adequate train connectivity.
This is the first direct train link between Kozhikode and Bengaluru. The Kannur-Yeshvantpur daily via Palakkad has a stop in Kozhikode.
The only other train option connecting the two cities is the Mangaluru Central-Yeshvantpur weekly, which takes a circuitous route via Kuppam and Bangarpet.
South Western Railway has notified that train 16511, the KSR Bengaluru-Kannur Express, has been extended to Kozhikode.
Kozhikode MP M K Raghavan said he has been working on making this happen for long, and had obtained a no-objection certificate for the service from SW Railway in 2023.
The Railway Board issued orders to extend the train in February 2024, but the plan was delayed due to various technical hurdles.