Cancelling of Ernakulam - Bengaluru Vandebharat; Railways' unexpected blow to Malayalis during Onam

Kerala is one of the highest revenue-generating states for railways in terms of tickets. While empty coaches are a regular sight on trains in northern Indian states, it is rare in Kerala. Moreover, everyone travels by taking a ticket. However, the Railways has been following the same step-motherly attitude towards Kerala for years. Railways do many things like not allocating enough money in the budget for many important projects, not allowing new trains, delaying the doubling of tracks etc. However, the Railways has no difficulty in sanctioning new services and projects to the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. Most of the administrators of Southern Railway are officials from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. They have no interest in Kerala. There is no one to advocate for Kerala in front of them.

This Onam, the Railways has delivered an unexpected blow to Kerala by suspending the Ernakulam - Bengaluru Vandebharat Express service which always runs full of passengers. The Ernakulam - Bengaluru Vandebharat special service ran only from July 25 to August 26. This service was discontinued in the name of the platform renovation at Bengaluru Cantonment station. The Madurai Vandebharat daily service was started from the same station in the meantime. Apart from this, two new trains have also been sanctioned for Tamil Nadu. Is there any justification for stopping service to Kerala and allowing trains to other states in the name of platform upgrade?​ If needed, the service could have been maintained by changing the time.

Instead, a service that was running full of passengers was stopped, giving a big blow to the Malayali passengers from Bengaluru during Onam. It is alleged that the pressure of the private bus lobby is behind this. Private bus lobbyists charge extortionate fares during special seasons. The Vandebharat train allotted to Kerala started running after being idle for five months.
With more than half a million passengers per week, the Bengaluru - Ernakulam route is a profit zone for private luxury bus operators. During Onam, private buses increase the AC sleeper ticket rate up to Rs.500. With the cancellation of Vandebharat and the non-availability of tickets on other trains, passengers will have to travel by bus at extortionate fares.

There were eight coaches in the suspended Vande Bharat. There were 105 percent bookings to Bengaluru and 88 percent to Ernakulam. The Mangaluru-Goa Vandebharat, which started in the same period, has only 31 percent bookings but that train is still in service. There is no one to raise voice for Kerala, which makes the railway officials take actions as they like. MPs from Kerala should take the initiative to bring this matter to the attention of the Union Railway Minister and the Prime Minister. Similarly, the state government should also urgently intervene in this problem.