After 25 years of service the railways have not made an attempt to branch off the Konkan Railway inter connected to the Central railway lines via Dharmasthala, Belthangady Mangalore or Udupi. This is a very potential area and is well within the funding capacity of the Konkan Railway and Southern Railway.
It is notable that Birur in Chikkamagaluru and Nettana in Sullia already have established railway lines and it just a matter of connectivity by railway lines to Dharmasthala, Belthangady and towards Udupi or Mangaluru, which is a distance of 90 kilometers either way.
The Railway Board which had thought about this line has stopped further exploration as the project might run in to problems due to environmental implications that the line can have. But looking at the massive traffic on this region, people still travel on rickety buses and go to religious tourism places on this line or travel to Mangaluru city.
Considering that there are 4 lakh people from the Coastal city of Mangalore staying in Mumbai and at least another lakh of people from other parts of the Dakshina Kannada District and Udupi, the railways may find the line more profitable than the mainline between Mangalore and Mumbai. “But the bus lobby in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi is a big force and very influential. Even during the Mangalore Mumbai line was commissioned the private bus lobby had organised several rounds of protests, planted stories in the local media and also tried to allegedly bribe their way into stalling the railway line. But due to the towering personality of the then Union Minister George Fernandes and the Chief Engineer E. Sreedharan they could not have their way,” say veteran railway activists in the region.
Those forces that had raised hue and cry regarding the environmental degradation on the 990 kilometre coastal line from Mangalore to Mumbai themselves vouch that the KRCL had done a commendable job in preserving the greenery along the route especially in Bhatkal Kankavali sector where the KRCL has used Vettiver grass to hold the soil on the slopes.
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 daiva sthanas 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.
The Konkan Railway and the South Western Railway networking into the hinterland of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts will help even Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts to a large extent.
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.