Mangaluru under SWR: Smooth transition takes place with effect from 00.00 hours of October 1

Personnel change the railway zone name, from Southern Railway to South Western Railway at the advance ticket reservation counter complex of Mangaluru Railway Station. | Photo Credit: ANIL KUMAR SASTRY Mangaluru Railway Region, which had been under Southern Railway ever since the first line was laid between the then Madras and Mangalore in the 1900s, came under the jurisdiction of South Western Railway (SWR) with effect from the intervening night of September 30 and October 1, in Mangaluru. The milestone displaying the distance between Madras and Mangalore as 550 miles, on Platform 1 of Mangaluru Central railway station. | Photo Credit: ANIL KUMAR SASTRY Though SWR came into existence in the year 2003 primarily to cater to the railway requirements in Karnataka due to the efforts of the then Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda (announcement made in 1996 and executed in 2003), Mangaluru Railway Region remained with the Southern Railway Zone under its Palakkad Division. Mangaluru Central will come under South Western Railway’s Mysuru Division from the intervening night of September 30 and October 1. | Photo Credit: ANIL KUMAR SASTRY It had been the grouse of coastal Karnataka people that SR utilised Mangaluru as the terminal and coaching depot primarily to cater to the coaching train requirements of the Malabar region of Keralam instead of providing connectivity within Karnataka and northern parts of India. Mangaluru was also supposed to come under Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd., as per the original plan; however when KRCL was commissioned in 1998, Mangaluru continued to remain under SR. The primary reason, besides the coaching depot, had been the New Mangalore Port that generated nearly half of the revenues of Palakkad Division.Changes in operation A view from the dead-end point of the Mangaluru Central Railway Station. | Photo Credit: ANIL KUMAR SASTRY Divisional Railway Manager of Mysuru Division Mudit Mittal told The Hindu on Wednesday that the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has been executing necessary changes in the operational control system for the change over from Palakkad Division to Mysuru Division.It has given 00.00 hours as the change-over time with about 30 minutes of buffer time when the controls change hands. Mysuru Division has already provided one more control board at its headquarters to control operation of trains in the newly added region, Mr. Mittal said.The DRM said there would be no change in operations or primary maintenance of trains being undertaken at the Mangaluru coaching depot at least for the first three months. With the shifting of interchange point between SWR and SR from Padil to Ullal, delays in handing over trains from one zone to another could be avoided thereby ensuring smooth and unhindered operations, the DRM said.Team in MangaluruMeanwhile, the SWR team headed by Mysuru Additional DRM Shammas Hameed and comprising senior branch level officers has been in Mangaluru since Wednesday to ensure smooth transition of the administration. The team visited vital installations in Mangaluru region, including Mangaluru Central and Junction stations, the existing interchange point of SWR and SR at Padil, the new interchange point at Ullal and other places. Published - September 30, 2026 07:14 pm IST