Railways to examine three new proposals

Southern Railway awaiting board’s nod for timetable of Rameswaram train

The Southern Railway has said that it will examine proposals to operate new passenger trains from Mangaluru Central, including one to popular pilgrim centre Tirupati, to include them in the Inter Railway Timetable Committee (IRTTC) 2022 meeting.

During the meeting of MPs from Palakkad Division with Southern Railway’s General Manager last week, Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel’s proposals to introduce new trains from Mangaluru to Tirupati via Hassan; Ahmedabad via Madgaon and Miraj via Hassan and Arsikere, were discussed. General Manager (in-charge) B.G. Mallya responded saying that the feasibility of introduction of the suggested trains will be carefully examined for inclusion in the next IRTTC meeting.

Several rail patrons and passenger associations in the region had urged the MP to get a direct train facility to Tirupati as thousands travel to the destination using other tedious modes of transport. Similarly, the Mahalakshmi Express to Miraj that was running before gauge conversion was not reintroduced after gauge conversion. As per the Railway policy, all trains running before gauge conversion should be reintroduced after completion of the work, the MP had noted and said that the train connected North Karnataka and Coastal Karnataka.