Mangaluru (The Hindu): The demand for a faster train journey between Bengaluru and Mangaluru will soon be realised as the South Western Railway has proposed to run the Kudla Express on the newly laid Bengaluru-Hassan line bringing down the journey time to nine hours. At present, the journey takes about 11 hours via Arsikere (400 km) and 12 hours via Mysuru (450 km).

The zone is awaiting the Railway Board’s nod as well as dates from dignitaries to commence the services; to begin with as a tri-weekly for want of rakes.

The Yeshwantpur-Mangaluru Central service will run on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving Bengaluru at 7 a.m. to reach Mangaluru at 4 p.m. The Mangaluru Central-Yeshwantpur service will run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays leaving Mangaluru at 10.50 a.m. to reach Yeshwantpur at 7.50 p.m., according to sources in South Western Railway.

The service was announced as a daily via Mysuru by the then Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda. Following a public interest litigation petition by Udupi Railway Yatri Sangha before the High Court of Karnataka, the South Western Railway promised to run the services before March 31, 2017.

The South Western Railway has also proposed to terminate the Yeshwantpur-Karwar-Yeshwantpur tri-weekly services (16515/516) at Mangaluru Junction citing low patronage between Mangaluru and Karwar. The Yeshwantpur-Karwar service leaves Yeshwantpur at 7 a.m. to reach Mangaluru Junction at 5.40 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while the Karwar-Yeshwantpur service leaves Mangaluru Junction at 11.10 a.m. to reach Yeshwantpur at 10 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, via Arsikere.

Thus, passengers would get day train facility on six days a week, South Western Railway said in the proposal.

Kukke Shree Subrahmanya-Mangalore Railway Commuters Forum’s Organiser Sudarshan Puttur thanked MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and South Western Railway for considering the forum’s suggestion to route the Kudla Express via the newly opened line thereby reducing the travel distance and time.