more-in The Railway Board has thrown cold water on the hopes of coastal Karnataka people getting a day-train between Mangaluru and Mumbai, following the Konkan Railway Corporation's muted response to amalgamation of Dadar-Madgaon Jan Shatabdi and Mangaluru Central-Madgaon Intercity Express trains. With Train Nos. 22636/635 Mangaluru Central- Madgaon- Mangaluru Central Intercity Express getting lukewarm response from passengers, various rail passenger associations had urged the zones concerned — Southern Railway, KR and Central Railway — to amalgamate the train with Train No. 12051/052 Dadar-Madgaon-Dadar Jan Shatabdi. It would provide direct connectivity between Karnataka coast and Western Mumbai along with the two existing services. Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Uttara Kannada MP Anant Kumar Hegde had written to the Board to consider the proposal in the interest of people travelling between the two places, including Ratnagiri and surrounding areas. The SR, responding to the Board’s communiqué, had said Jan Shatabdi train belonged to CR, and if a proposal comes from that zone, it would examine the same, duly considering interchange timings with the KR. The Intercity Express belongs to SR. To an RTI query, the Board told a rail fan that the request of Minister Hegde was not feasible based on the feedback from the Railway Zones concerned. Besides stating that Jan Shatabdi belongs to CR, Konkan Railway told the Board that the Central Railway had on February 14, 2006, operated another set of Jan Shatabdi between Madgaon and Mangaluru Central with different train numbers. Within four months, CR cancelled the services owing to poor patronage, it said. Rail fan Gautam Shetty of Kundapura said the 2006 service was a separate service; passengers had to buy two tickets, one from Mangaluru to Madgaon and another from Madgaon to Dadar. Absence of assured seat availability from Madgaon was the reason for poor patronage, which Konkan Ralway failed to mention in the response, he said. Mr. Shetty said CR was positive toward the proposal for the amalgamation, provided KR and SR cooperated. West Coast Rail Yatri Abhivriddhi Sangha adviser Anil Hegde said the amalgamation would have perfectly worked with the trains leaving respective places early morning, reaching destinations in the night. Responding to this, KRCL Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Gupta said the corporation has not received any communication from the Board on the issue of amalgamation.

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