Railway Minister to flag off ‘Gomateshwara Express’ between M'luru, B'luru on Apr 9

Mangaluru/Bengaluru: Union Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhu is all set to flag off the day train between the coastal city and the state capital on Sunday and the train will run on the recently inaugurated Hassan line.

The much-awaited Yeshwantpur-Mangaluru Junction tri-weekly express was sanctioned when Sadananda Gowda was the Railway Minister.

Sources say that the Railway Minister will flag off the train from Madgaon via video conferencing and has also agreed to name the train ‘Gomateshwara Express’ after a request by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

However, people from the coastal region have been referring to the train as ‘Kudla Express’ ever since it was sanctioned.

The train (no 16575) will depart from Yeshwantpur at 7.50 am on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and will arrive in Mangaluru at 5.30 the same evening. During the return journey (train no 16576), the train will depart from Mangaluru Junction at 11.30 am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and will reach Yeshwantpur at 8.30 the same night.

The train will have halts at Chikbanavar, Nelamangala, Kunigal, Yediyur, BG Nagar, Channarayapatna, Hassan, Sakleshpur, Subrahmanya Road, Kabakaputtur and Bantwal.