Unseen before 5 month-long quietness of Mangaluru Central station

Mangaluru: The more than 100-year-old Mangaluru Central Railway Station has for the past 5 months been subdued in a never before seen eerie quietness.

Passengers have been asking to resume at least one of the suspended trains between Bengaluru and Mangaluru.

In the time before the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns, there were 27 trains from Mangaluru Central to various parts of the country. There were about 30,000 passengers arriving and departing each day. Freight trains and railway postal services were running from here. After the lockdown was announced on March 21, they were all shut down.

Before the lockdown four trains ran between the station and Bengaluru. Presently, the Ernakulam-New Delhi Mangala Express and the Thiruvananthapuram to Mumbai Netravathi Express are plying through the station. Some goods trains also pass through the station.

After the initiation of the Unlock process, the Railways started the Bengaluru-Belgaum and Bengaluru-Mysore services.

Due to landslides on the Charmadi and Sampaje Ghat, road connectivity here has been affected. Shiradi Ghat, the main link between Bengaluru and Mangaluru, also experienced landslides during the monsoon. Hence many have called on the Railways for the past two months to re-launch at least one rail service Mangaluru and Bengaluru said Anil Hegde, convenor of the West Coast Railway Travellers Development Association. Many other rail travellers association too have requested the Railways to restart services.

Suresh Angadi, the Union Minister of State for Railways has stated that currently, only 230 trains are allowed to operate out of the total 12,700 trains in the country before the COVID-19 pandemic began. For emergency rail services, respective States must request the Railways Ministry. If a request is received for rail service between Mangaluru and Bangaluru from the State government it will be reviewed.