Mangaluru under SWR: Instead of opposing integration, demand better infrastructure and facilities in north Keralam, says forum

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Kasargod Railway Station has the potential to be developed as a terminal station under Southern Railway’s Palakkad Division, Dakshina Kannada District Rail Users, an online forum, said on Saturday in Mangaluru. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Mangaluru’s integration with South Western Railway (SWR) does not prevent northern Keralam from developing. It means that Mangaluru railway administration can be aligned with Karnataka and railway network in which the city is located while Keralam can simultaneously demand greater investment in its own railway infrastructure, said Dakshina Kannada District Railway Users, an online forum of patrons, on Saturday.

If the concern is genuinely about the people of Kasaragod and northern Keralam, they should be given more railway infrastructure, trains, stoppages, terminals, and connectivity. Their current dependence on Mangaluru should not be used as a reason to oppose the jurisdictional change. Instead, northern Keralam should become strong enough so that it does not depend on Mangaluru, the forum said.

Those opposing the jurisdictional change argued that northern Keralam would be affected as Mangaluru contributed significant revenues to Southern Railway’s Palakkad Division, and Mangaluru Central provided important terminal and operational facilities for trains bound for northern Keralam. If that was the concern, why could more railway infrastructure and revenue-generating capacity not be developed within Keralam instead of opposing Mangaluru’s integration with SWR, the forum asked.

No doubt, Mangaluru Central has been the only major terminal in Palakkad Division, while Shoranur Junction does not have a coaching depot or pit-line facilities. If northern Keralam was so dependent on Mangaluru Central because there was no comparable major terminal in Keralam, such a facility should be built now, it said.

Kasaragod has the potential to be developed as a major terminal and handles a Vande Bharat Express to Thiruvananthapuram, the forum said. Kumbla and Manjeshwar stations too have the potential to be developed as terminals or coaching depots with maintenance facilities.

These activities would create additional railway capacity in Keralam instead of depending on Mangaluru Central for major terminal operations. Even the potential of Kannur, Kozhikode, Kanhangad, and Nileshwar could be explored for development as major terminals.

The forum said that with Manjeshwar and Kasaragod taluks forming part of the historic Gadinadu region of Karnataka, sharing deep Tulu and Kannada linguistic and cultural connections alongside a substantial population, there was a small demand for integrating these areas with SWR.

Better railway infrastructure in this region would directly benefit the people of the Gadinadu region and strengthen connectivity across the Karnataka–Keralam border.