Udupi-Chikmagalur MP K Jayaprakash Hedge has urged the Railway Ministry to divert Yashwanthpur-Kannur Express Train (16517/18) from Mangalore to Karwar.
In a letter to Union Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa, he said the train was extended to Kannur as against the demands of the people of the region. The occupancy between Mangalore and Kannur is abysmal.
The passengers bound to Kundapur and Karwar get down at Mangalore and carry on their rest of their journey by road. Giving out the statistics, he said about 428 people arrive on an average in the sleeper class at Mangalore in train, whereas only 28 people arrive at Kannur.
In the 3AC class, 45 people arrive at Mangalore on an average while only three arrive at Kannur. In the 2AC class, 38 arrive in Mangalore and only one in Kannur.
In the train which starts from Kannur, only 28 passengers board the sleeper class, five in the 3AC and three in the 2AC on an average while in Mangalore 430 board the sleeper class, 50 in the 3AC and 37 in the 2AC.
He said the extension of the train to Kannur was ‘fraught with breach of trust and contract.’ He said Karnataka had invested 41 per cent in the Hassan Mangalore Rail Development Corporation (HMRDC) constituted to create the infrastructure to provide connectivity between Mangalore and Bangalore.
On completion of the corporation, instead of fulfilling its promise to the State which funded this project, the Indian Railways obliged the one that did not make any investment, he added.
He said that the Railways should respond to aspirations of people of Karnataka and divert the train to Karwar as originally planned.
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