By Fakir Balaji, IANS
Sakleshpur (Karnataka) : The inaugural passenger train journey following resumption of service between the port city of Mangalore and India’s silicon hub Bangalore through the picturesque Western Ghats was a visual treat for both locals en-route and commuters on board.
An hour after Railway Minister Lalu Prasad flagged off the inaugural express train from the bedecked Mangalore station last weekend, hundreds of people from nearby villages thronged the few rustic stations dotting the terrain for a glimpse of the blue train chugging through the plains, hills and dales and greeted its belated arrival after a gap of 11 years.
Though the conversion of the 189-km track between Mangalore and Hassan from metre gauge to broad gauge was completed in early 2006, Indian Railways took 20-odd more months to resume a full-fledged passenger service for want of clearance by its safety commission and preparedness.
“It has been a long wait for us to see a passenger train in this terrain. While we have been seeing and hearing the rumbling sound of a goods train passing by our hamlet daily since over a year, we have been eagerly looking for this day to enter the abandoned station and welcome you.
“At the time the service was abruptly suspended about 11 years ago at short notice for the conversion project, I was a college student commuting to Mangalore daily and returning by the local train in the evenings.
“Since then, it has been tough travelling on road due to its pathetic condition and poor bus service,” R. Malappa, a 32-year-old sales officer, told IANS soon after the special express train screeched to its first halt at Kabakaputtur, about 50 km from Mangalore.
The sight of a passenger train in day time drew hundreds of people to both sides of the newly laid track and unsheltered stations.
Leaving work aside, farmers, students, traders and field labourers flocked to herald the train and its occupants with flowers, garlands, incense sticks and sweets for savouring the occasion.
As the train, moving at 30 km per hour in the ghat section, pulled in for unscheduled halts at smaller stations, it was celebration time for the rustic folks, cheering, dancing, hooting and greeting the 200-odd lucky ones travelling to Bangalore on the solo day trip.
Interestingly, the engine’s main driver C. Rangaswamy, senior locomotive inspector R. Nagaraj and train guard G. Muralidhar who operated on the metre gauge route during the eighties, were the star attraction for piloting the new train through the region and still being in service.
“We are overjoyed that South Western Railway has finally resumed the passenger service after delaying it for so long. The train service was the lifeline of the people in my town. Its long suspension caused a lot of inconvenience to a generation, affecting the local economy and movement of people as well as freight.
“We are relieved to learn the railways will operate more trains on this route after track stabilisation and opening up of two new stations in the ghat section next year,” coffee planter Chikke Gowda said at Sakleshpur, about 240 km from Bangalore.
The topography of the Western Ghats with its rich biodiversity, including flora and fauna, offers a breathtaking spectacle of the undulated terrain at a height of 1,000 metres above sea level. The region has spanning streams, waterfalls, ravines, forests, palm trees, coconut groves, paddy fields and commodity plantations.
With 100 inches of annual rainfall and unpredictable weather conditions prevailing through the year, hundreds of villages in the region suffered for want of the vital rail link, the absence of proper road connectivity, and poor bus service by state-owned and private operators.
“The gauge conversion work in such an inhospitable region, with no approach roads for ferrying construction equipment and materials across the ghat section, got delayed further due to landslides, flash floods and seepages during the monsoon period every year,” a senior South Western Railway official said.