Train No. 16511, the KSR Bengaluru-Kozhikode Express, arrives at Mangaluru Central railway station. The train has been arriving with an average delay of 1.06 hours against its scheduled arrival time of 7.10 a.m. during the past week.
| Photo Credit: ANIL KUMAR SASTRY
Patrons and passenger associations in coastal Karnataka are upset that the two overnight express trains connecting the coastal region with Bengaluru have been running late for the past three months, with an average delay of at least one hour while reaching the coast and 40 minutes while reaching Bengaluru.G. Hanumanth Kamath, president of Paschima Karavali Railway Yatri Abhivruddhi Samithi, said that during the past week, the KSR Bengaluru-Kozhikode Express (Train No. 16511) has been arriving at Mangaluru Central with an average delay of 1.06 hours against the scheduled arrival time of 7.10 a.m. Its average delay increases from 49 minutes at Subrahmanya Road to 1.06 hours by the time it reaches Mangaluru Central. He said the delay has been affecting regular commuters and office-goers to a large extent.The train’s pairing service, the Kozhikode-KSR Bengaluru Express (Train No. 16512), has been arriving at Yeshwantpur with an average delay of 39 minutes during the past week against the scheduled arrival time of 5.53 a.m. The Mangaluru railway region’s peculiar situation of being served by three railway zones was responsible for the delays, Mr. Kamath said.Panchaganga ExpressSimilarly, the Panchaganga Express (Train Nos. 16595/16596), connecting the rest of coastal Karnataka with Bengaluru, has been reaching coastal towns as well as Bengaluru with delays averaging 1.30 hours and 50 minutes, respectively.Gautam Shetty of the Kundapura Railway Prayanikara Vedike said that if Train No. 16596, the Karwar-KSR Bengaluru Panchaganga Express, reaches Yeshwantpur even with a delay of 30 minutes against the scheduled arrival time of 6.25 a.m., it would have a cascading effect on passengers who get stuck in city traffic. Its average delay in arrival at Yeshwantpur has been 50 minutes in the past week, while the average departure delay at Subrahmanya Road, before the train begins climbing the ghat section, has been 1.18 hours.Similarly, Train No. 16595, which runs between KSR Bengaluru and Karwar, departed from Subrahmanya Road with an average delay of 38 minutes during the past week. However, after entering the Konkan Railway zone, it departed Surathkal with an average delay of 1.10 hours, which increased to 1.34 hours by the time it reached Ankola. Owing to the scheduled running time of 1.28 hours to cover the 28-km stretch from Ankola to Karwar, the train reached Karwar with an average delay of 36 minutes, Mr. Shetty said.The delay has mostly occurred in the South Western Railway (SWR) zone between Yeshwantpur and Mangaluru Junction, Mr. Shetty said, urging the zone to operate the services on time in the interest of thousands of passengers.Repeated attempts by The Hindu to get a response from the SWR did not yield any result. Published - July 09, 2026 08:11 pm IST
