Upset for not introducing Kudla Express, Sadananda Gowda skips inauguration of new line

Bengaluru/Mangaluru: The Bengaluru-Hassan line was inaugurated on Sunday but Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation D.V. Sadananda Gowda decided not to attend the ceremony as he was upset with the Railways’ failure to introduce the ‘Kudla Express’ announced when he was the Railway Minister.

As soon he took over the Railway Ministry in 2014, Sadananda Gowda sanctioned sufficient funds to speed up construction of the Bengaluru-Hassan line as it had been pending for two decades after it was sanctioned by the then Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda; March 2016 was set as the project’s deadline.

Sadananda Gowda also announced a Bengaluru-Mangaluru express train via Mysuru in the Railway Budget. However, the South Western Railway, which recently proposed to run the train on the newly constructed route, failed to keep up the promise saying that there were no coaches available.

Sadananda Gowda stated, “There was no reason that the Kudla Express could not be started as 17 out of 18 trains announced by me are already operational. The train was announced for the benefit of people hailing from the coastal region.”

Meanwhile, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu responding to former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s proposal of naming the Bengaluru-Mangaluru Express ‘Gomateshwara Express’ said that he would keep the suggestion in mind.

However, passengers have said that the Bengaluru-Mangaluru Express was named ‘Kudla Express’ when announced in the 2014-15 Railway Budget. Mangaluru is called Kudla in Tulu, the locally spoken language in Dakshina Kannada-Udupi, thus the train was named ‘Kudla Express,’ said Sudarshan Puttur, Convenor, Kukke Shree Subrahmanya-Mangaluru Railway Commuters Forum, Puttur.