KASARAGOD: Despite protests and strong opposition from Keralam, Mangaluru’s century long relationship with Southern Railway comes to an end today. With the region becoming part of the Mysuru division of South Western Railway, a long-pending demand of the people of Mangaluru comes to fruition. Railways refused to reverse the division on the grounds that it would be easier to manage Mangaluru region with it part of South Western Railway.
Operational control was shifted to Mysuru on Wednesday, with railway controllers taking charge of operations after two days of monitoring on September 28 and 29. The transfer of administrative affairs will mark the completion of the process.
From Thursday, the approach to Ullal station in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada would mark the northern boundary of Southern Railway. On August 21, the Railway Board issued an order detaching Mangaluru region — consisting Mangaluru Central and Mangaluru Junction terminals, goods shed, marshalling yards, and around 38 route kilometres — from the Palakkad division of Southern Railway, effective October 1.
The order caught the state government and legislators off-guard, though it was first mooted in 2024. A gazette notification followed within a few hours, unlike the usual time frame of a week, in what was hailed as a master stroke by BJP’s Dakshina Kannada MP Brijesh Chowta.
This stirred Keralam’s parliamentarians into action, as they staged protests and meet officials demanding rollback of the decision. On September 21, a group of MPs, in a last-ditch attempt, met Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who ended up lecturing them on the railway works undertaken in the state since 2014.
The undue haste and obstinate stand of the railway ministry angered rail-user forums in Malabar, who urged the MPs to demand a severance package to develop railway infrastructure in the region. As a result of the redrawing of its map, Palakkad division is set to lose `1,650 crore in annual revenue.
On a positive note, Southern Railway can start looking to create more terminal facilities in Malabar while the Palakkad division would seek every opportunity to utilise its stations to augment its income, a Southern Railway official said.
SR relocates crew
In the run-up to the restructuring, Southern Railway last week moved running crew from Mangaluru Junction to depots at Kannur and Kozhikode stations. Pursuant to an order issued on September 23, it moved 10 sets of goods train crew to Kannur station while moving 28 sets to Kozhikode station. It also reallocated 10 train managers to Kannur and 9 to Kozhikode
Delinking of history
Mangaluru Central is one of the few dead-end terminal stations of Indian Railways. The historic Madras-Mangalore railway line officially concluded its route at the station
Mangaluru Central was opened as Mangalore Railway Station by Madras Railway Company in 1907. A milestone that reads ‘550 Miles from Madras’ is located on the station’s platform 1
The Madras-Mangalore line linked the coastal districts of British Malabar and South Canara directly to Madras and fostered extensive trade and historical migrations
Mangaluru Junction was established as Kankanady railway station in 1915, and came into prominence when the Konkan Railway line to Udupi was completed in 1993 and Mangaluru-Bengaluru ghat line was completed in 2007
It was renamed as Mangaluru Junction in 2007 and underwent a major facelift between 2023 and 2025