The absence of coach watering facilities at any coastal Karnataka station reportedly forced the Railway Ministry to propose the coastal Vande Bharat Express to Madgaon.

As the absence of coach watering facilities at any coastal Karnataka station reportedly forced the Railway Ministry to propose the coastal Vande Bharat Express to Madgaon, Kota Srinivas Poojary, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP, has asked Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. (KRCL) to immediately arrange a temporary watering facility in Udupi or Kundapur.

“I request that on the lines of the model already implemented at Kasargod Railway Station, an estimate may be prepared immediately for an amount of approximately ₹15-20 lakh, and approval may be accorded to take up the work on an urgent basis,” Mr. Poojary wrote to Santosh Kumar Jha, chairman and managing director of KRCL, on February 20, Friday.

He pointed out, “At present, the absence of watering facilities in this section is causing operational difficulties and inconvenience to passengers when special or extended trains are operated. Since providing permanent watering infrastructure will take time, a temporary arrangement is immediately required.”

While the demand was to operate the coastal Vande Bharat Express to Karwar at most, the Ministry had to plan it till Madgaon as none of the stations between Mangaluru Junction (excluding) and Karwar on the Karnataka coast have coach watering facilities, senior officials of South Western Railway told The Hindu.

Letter in November

Mr. Poojary had written to the KRCL chairman and managing director on November 5 last year, requesting him to arrange necessary infrastructure/facilities at Kundapur Railway station, including loco pilot and crew running rooms, coach watering facility, and onboard housekeeping and maintenance arrangements in anticipation of the Railway Ministry introducing a Vande Bharat Express between Bengaluru and Kundapur.

He had said that with the Railway electrification work on the Sakleshpur-Subrahmanya Road Ghat section nearing completion, the Ministry might soon introduce a coastal Vande Bharat Express.

No justification

The KRCL chairman and managing director on December 2 replied to Mr. Poojary that there was no commercial justification to start a Vande Bharat Express from Kundapur. The station saw an average daily footfall of 1,057 and earned ₹2,12,428. Even the Mangaluru Central-Madgaon-Mangaluru Central Vande Bharat Express (20645/46) was operating with an occupancy of just about 34%, he had said, adding, “Therefore, running of an additional Vande Bharat Express is not justified.” Nevertheless, operating Vande Bharat Express falls within the purview of the Railway Ministry, Mr. Jha had said.

For the coast

Mr. Poojary, however, told KRCL that this request was early preparedness to operate a Vande Bharat Express, be it from Kundapur, Karwar or Madgaon. The service would nevertheless cater to multiple stations associated with major pilgrimage centres, tourism destinations, and educational hubs, he noted.