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The demand of the people of the port city to extend Mangalore-Bangalore train to Karwar will be realised soon with the Railways making all preparations for extending the day train. However, the day train 16516/15 will not arrive at Mangalore Central. Instead, it will proceed to Karwar from Mangalore Junction itself. 

 
According to the minutes of the meeting held by the Railway Board on April 6 and the time table prepared in the meeting which is available with the Deccan Herald, Train Number 16516 will leave Karwar at 5.30 am and reach Mangalore Junction at 10.55 am.

After changing the engine, the train will leave Mangalore Junction at 11.15 am and reach Yashwanthpura at 10.45 pm. The train will start its journey from Karwar on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the train number 16515 will leave Yashwanthpura at 7.30 am and reach Mangalore Junction at 5.40 pm. From Junction, it will leave at 6.05 pm and reach Karwar at 11 pm. All the 14 compositions will go to Karwar.

Railway Yahthri Sangha (Puttur) Technical Advisor Anil Hegde said the demand of the people of the region has been met with the extension of the train to Karwar. However, Mangaloreans will not be benefited much. At present, the train leaves Mangalore Central at 8.40 am and reaches Yashwanthpura at 7 pm. With the extension of the train, it will reach Yashwanthpur at 10.45 pm. Those who want to reach to Electronic City, and other far off places in Bangalore will find it difficult to travel from Yashwanthpura owing to the non-availability of transport system at odd hours. “At the same time, the road leading to Mangalore Junction is in deplorable condition and auto drivers charge exorbitant fee to drop a passenger to the Junction,” he said.

According to the timetable, the extended train will halt at Mangalore Junction, Udupi, Mookambika Road, Bhatkal, Gokarna, Kumta and Karwar.

According to railway officials, non-availability of tracks at Mangalore Central led them to extend the train from Mangalore Junction. However, Hegde says as per the railway rules, if the trains are extended, then, it has to be extended from the terminating point.

“If the extended train to Karwar is converted into superfast train between Karwar and Mangalore, then it will benefit the office goers of the region,” he said. 

At present, the train leaves Mangalore Central at 8.40 am and reaches Arasikere at 3.45 pm. A Bangalore-Hubli intercity which reaches Arasikere at 5 pm has lot of passengers from Mangalore-Bangalore train from Arasikere to go to Hubli, Dharward. At the same time, there are lot of trains from Yashwanthpura to Hubli –Dharward between 7.30 pm and 10.30 pm.

With the change in timings, several passengers who travel in Mangalore-Bangalore train will miss their connecting trains, he says.

Train to Madgaon?

The Railway meeting time table also says that operationally, it is feasible to extend Bangalore-Mangalore train to Madgaon due to operation constraints at Karwar.

“Karwar has only two tracks. The Madgaon-Karwar passenger train halts at Karwar at night. There are several trains on Konkan route which ply at night and there will be shortage of tracks if the Mangalore-Bangalore train is extended to Karwar, too halts at Karwar at night.”