Mangaluru: Mangaluru railway area will finally move out of the Palakkad division of Southern Railway (SR) and come under the Mysuru division of South Western Railway (SWR) from Oct 1, following a jurisdictional reorganisation ordered by the Railway Board on Friday.According to the order, the Mangaluru area up to Ullal, including Ullal station, will be transferred to the Mysuru division. The interchange point between SWR and SR will consequently shift from Padil to Ullal.Meanwhile, Thokur station will continue under Konkan Railway (KRCL) and serve as the interchange point between KRCL and SWR. The existing divisional and zonal boundaries between KRCL and SR will accordingly become the boundaries between KRCL and SWR. The exact divisional and zonal boundaries between SR and SWR will be notified in the gazette.The Railway Board has also laid down procedures for the transfer of manpower. Gazetted staff will be transferred along with their posts, while Group-B officers will be dealt with under existing rules. Non-gazetted staff will be transferred on an “as is where is” basis, with an option to remain with SR or move to SWR. Those opting to move to SWR will be transferred on administrative grounds, with their seniority determined based on their service in the present grade.Dakshina Kannada MP Brijesh Chowta welcomed the decision, calling it the fulfilment of a long-pending demand. In a post on X, Chowta said the development gave him a “great sense of contentment”, noting that he had raised the demand as a priority within days of taking oath as MP in June 2024.The decision has also been welcomed by railway users in the coastal region, with social media pouring in celebratory posts.Anil Hegde, secretary of Paschima Karavali Railway Yathri Abivriddhi Samithi, told TOI that a long-pending demand is being fulfilled, and congratulated MP Chowta for his efforts.“We hope the existing anomalies will be settled after the restructuring,” he said.
