Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer Development Shobha Karandlaje, who represents the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha constituency, requested Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to merge Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. (KRCL) with Indian Railways.
“MPs from Karnataka held a meeting with Union Minister For Railways Sri AshwiniVaishnaw Ji. Highlighted the various railway related demands and issues of Udupi-Chikmagalur. The Hon’ble Railway Minister assured of positive action about all the proposals,” Shobha Karanlaje tweeted.
KRCL is a joint venture of Indian Railways with Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala.
Minister Karandlaje said that Konkan Railway has failed to fulfil the aspirations of coastal Karnataka, and merging it with Indian Railways is a long-pending demand from people.
Karandlaje said KRCL could be brought under South Western Railway (Karnataka-Goa) and Central Railway (Maharashtra).
Railway users from coastal Karnataka allege that KRCL is cancelling the existing services instead of introducing new trains.
They claim that KRCL cancelled the popular Yeshwantpur-Karwar-Yeshwantpur tri-weekly day train between Karwar and Mangaluru Junction to earn a profit by running goods trains, reports The Hindu.
KRCL, with its headquarters at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, operates Konkan Railway.
The Konkan is a coastal strip of land bounded by the Sahyadri hills on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west.
The Konkan Railway was the missing link between India’s commercial capital, Mumbai, and Mangalore. The 741-kilometre line connects Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka States, a region crisscrossing rivers, plunging valleys and mountains.