MP Kateel raises cancelled trains issue in Parliament

Mangaluru: A move by Indian Railways to cancel the Bengaluru City-Karwar express (4 days in a week, 16513/14 via Kunigal-Hassan route) and Bengaluru-Karwar tri-weekly express (16523/24 via Mysuru-Hassan route) echoed in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Raising this issue was Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, who was participating in a debate on demands for grants for the ministry of railways for 2020-21.
Nalin expressed his profound gratitude to the ministry for introducing a new train service between Yeshwantpur and Karwar (train 16595/16596).
This new train service will help people of coastal Karnataka immensely, as its departure and arrival timings are convenient for them. At the same time, Nalin drew the attention of the ministry, through the speaker, about the public demand in wake of cancellation of above-mentioned trains.
“The railway administration, while introducing the above mentioned train, had cancelled the existing two trains,” Nalin said.
These train services between Karwar, Mangaluru and Bengaluru were highly patronised since their inception.
Besides, this train was serving as a convenient commuter train between Karwar and Mangaluru, helping the working class, students and traders of the region. It was also serving as the connecting train for many outgoing trains at Mangaluru Central.
Cancelled trains were used by people since 8 yrs
“The cancelled trains were catering to the needs of the public of the region since the last 8 years. Withdrawing this popular train’s service at this juncture is not at all reasonable, especially when large numbers of passengers were using the train service. This decision has deprived the public of convenient connectivity between Karwar and Mangaluru in the morning and evening,” the MP said in his written submission in the debate.
He exhorted the ministry to review the decision of cancellation of the above two trains, and restore service of the same, duly maintaining connectivity via Mangaluru Central, in the interest of the people of the region.
Activists had alleged that the ministry took the decision by bypassing its own cancellation policy at the behest of KRCL, which maintained that the new train will affect goods traffic and result in revenue loss, while putting forth its case seeking cancellation of existing trains.