The Union Railway Ministry’s apathy towards Karnataka is well known. In the past five decades, barring the period when Jaffer Sherief was the Railway Minister for about five years in 1990s, Karnataka has been badly neglected when it comes to expansion of the rail network. The Konkan railway was the last major line taken up in the recent past and that was thanks largely to Madhu Dandavate and George Fernandes who took personal interest because of their “Konkan connection.” Since then, the railway ministers have been merely adding new train services to Bangalore – which mostly benefit the “outsiders” – and paying meagre attention to expanding the network or introducing new train services within the state.

The railways’ apathy is best exemplified by the inexplicable delay in re-introducing the train service between Bangalore and Mangalore – the two cities with a heavy passenger traffic. The Mangala express, which was running earlier, was discontinued about a decade ago for taking up gauge conversion. When the snail-paced work was completed two years ago, people were hoping that the service would resume without further delay. In fact, for almost a year, the railway time table has been mentioning the train service without specifying the date of commencement. Considering the commercial potential, the goods trains started running a year ago, earning substantial revenue for the Railways. With the oil refinery and port being located in Mangalore, and Bangalore being the state capital, the commercial traffic has spilled over to the road, taking a heavy toll on the road network. There has also been a phenomenal increase in passenger movement and according to one estimate, nearly 500 buses run daily between the two points.

The people and the legislators of Dakshina Kannada have resorted to agitation demanding resumption of the passenger service. Thanks to recent torrential rains, the condition of roads along the route has worsened, putting road users to considerable harassment. When a Karnataka delegation called on him at New Delhi recently, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad promised to start the train service from November 1, which was later revised by his deputy R Velu to November 15. But, there is no sign as yet of the service being resumed, leading to speculation that the railway officials and ministers are in the “pocket” of the “bus lobby” which stands to lose when a cheaper and more comfortable train service is resumed. It is entirely upto the Railway Ministry to scotch such unfounded rumours and act in public interest at the earliest.