It has been one month since the Railway Board decided to extend the Bengaluru-Kannur Express (16511/12) via Mangaluru to Kozhikode but still, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Two pertinent points were categorically stated in the order signed by Railway Board Joint Director Vivek Kumar on January 30. First, the service should be started without further delay on a convenient day and second, the matter should be given utmost importance. But the railways is dragging its feet in implementing the order of the Railway Board. According to sources, the resistance from the BJP is the main hurdle in starting the extended service and no one can give assurance on when the train service from Kozhikode would begin after ironing out the differences.
Interestingly, the Kozhikode railway station hasn’t received any communiqué regarding extending the Bengaluru-Kannur Express to Kozhikode. Before taking the decision, the Railway Board enquired with the Kozhikode railway station officials about the facilities to accommodate a new train. The final decision was taken after the authorities concerned gave assurance that the railway station was equipped to usher in a new train.
The decision to extend the train service was taken after hectic parleys as the train concerned starts and ends its service in two different railway divisions. As per the new schedule, the Bengaluru-Kozhikode Express (16511) would leave Bengaluru at 9.35 pm and reach Kannur at 10.55 am and Kozhikode at 12.40 pm the next day. The Kozhikode-Bengaluru Express (16512) would start its journey daily at 3.30 pm from Kozhikode and reach Kannur at 5 pm and Bengaluru at 6.35 am the next day. But nothing has come to fruition even one month after the order has been issued. The officials of the Kerala railway division, the people’s representatives and the political parties who intervened in the issue are optimistic that the extended train service would start rolling soon.
But it is learnt that the railways is groping in the dark as a section of politicians in Karnataka has raised strong opposition against extending the train service to Kozhikode. The main stumbling block in starting the service is the petition that was personally handed over to the central railway minister by Karnataka BJP MP Nalin Kumar Katil. It is also learned that as the general elections are around the corner, the railways would have to cow down to political pressure.
