Margoa: People remember individual human beings, animals and events, but rarely they do remember the trains that had been a part of their lives for 25 years or more. But in a rare show of love, the people of Udupi have done a commendable job by remembering the day that the service Matsyagandha Train connects two coastal cities of Mangalore and Mumbai. The first Matsyagandha Express rolled out on the picturesque Konkan coast on May 1 1998. A small gathering in Udupi’s Indrali station did celebrate the event on May 1 2023.
But going beyond the reason to celebrate, a look at those glorious 25 years of transporting people and goods on this route is something delightful. And therefore here’s a peek into how this train has transformed life on the Konkan coast.
Before that eventful day, the people between Mangaluru and Mumbai used to take the buses right from 1964 when the CPC introduced the first Mangalore Mumbai bus service coordinating the time for the Eucharistic conference in Mumbai. The private bus services did yeomen service to the people but then it was time for mass transit between the two cities as the number of people travelling on this route became too many for the buses to handle.
The introduction of the Matsyagandha Express opened a new vista for travellers. In just 16 hours they could travel to Mumbai from Mangalore and vice versa. The Matsyagandha train had brought prosperity in ways more than one. The movement of skilled labour from Mangalore to Mumbai and businessmen from Mumbai to Mangalore became easier and came at an affordable fare.
Mukund Prabhu of Udupi who had travelled for the first time on Matsyagandha train on the inaugural day, recalled that the train had only 12 compartments with two more goods wagons. The train had over 21 stops and took not less than 22 hours to reach Victoria terminus (now Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus), subsequently the train was terminated at Dadar. Now 85 year old Prabhu recalled that at every station right from Brahmavar to VT people had welcomed the train with flowers.
After 25 years of service, even today, it is hard to get a seat on this train, say the travellers.
In addition to people the movement of goods for the Mangalore stores in Mumbai included dried fish, red variety of rice (boiled rice) betel leaves, and jackfruit, which had opened an additional market for the farmers and fishermen of Mangalore. While well-known producers of Mumbai sweets like ‘Damodarwala’ of Sion, brought the flavour of Mahim Halwa, Bakarwadi from Bhivandi and Ghatkopar.
Tourism also got a big boost on the coast, primarily religious tourism. Most of the people on the coast have their temples in Karwar, Goa and Mumbai and likewise, the people who have migrated to Mumbai for business, like Billavas and Bunts have their daivasthanas in Mangalore and Udupi Districts. Suddenly going to Goa had become so much easier for the people of Mangalore, which also delighted the people of Goa as tourism started getting better and better. Former Chief Minister of Goa Alemao Churchill told verito.today that the Matsyagandha train had ushered in a new era for tourism in Goa.
Pratap Sinh Rane the Chief Minister of Goa at the time of the inaugural service of Matsyagandha had congratulated the railways for this very important train service.
Former Railway Minister late George Fernandes and E. Sreedharan Chief Engineer of the Konkan Railway -both architects of the Konkan Railway had dreamt about a train that will connect Mangalore and Mumbai. Thanks to those visionaries the train is now real and is a lifeline of the Western Coast of India.
Perhaps it is also a time that the Vande Bharat Express must run on this route under the brand ‘Matsyagandha Express” , Railway aficionados say.