A scene from the Canacona railway station on Friday. Kathy Fernandes
Popular beaches of Palolem and Agonda are located in Canacona but tourists from other states have no access to Canacona through a train even though a Konkani Railway Corporation (KRC) station is located at Chaudi, the commercial hub of the taluka.
Except for two local passenger trains, none of the six long-distance trains have resumed their stops at the station. Some of these trains made their last halt at the station in March 2021 and later stopped altogether due to Covid -19 pandemic.
According to the railway staff, the unavailability/posting of medical teams at the station made it difficult to permit trains to halt even though the trains elsewhere were resumed partially and in a phased manner.
The trains which previously used to halt at the station were the Madgaon Express (weekly for 2 minutes), Matsyagandha Express (daily for 1 minute), Mag Intercity (daily for 2 minutes), Gandhidham Express (weekly for 2 minutes), Nagercoil Express (weekly for 2 minutes) and Netravati Express (daily for 2 minutes).
Notably, tickets being issued at the station for these trains has also been halted. “Since these trains do not make a halt here, we cannot resume issuing tickets at the station,” a source explained.
Incidentally, the ticket counter is open only for passenger trains plying along the Margao-Karwar-Margao and the Mangalore-Margao routes, which halt at Canacona.
“It is illogical for railway authorities to have ignored Canacona, which is home to many important tourist locations, at a time when train services have been normalised,” said Sarvesh Kenkre, a local young entrepreneur and social activist.
“It is not only injustice to tourists, but locals are also badly affected as trains do not halt at the station and moreover, tickets are not also issued for trains running along the Canacona route.”
Palolem Councillor and former Chairperson of Canacona Municipal Council Simon Rebello said that many tourists, visitors and locals are put in great hardships by railway authorities by not resuming the halt of long-distance trains and not issuing tickets at the station.
“Canacona is an important tourist place and railway authorities should take an immediate decision to reintroduce halts at the station,” demanded Rebello.
Sources at the station informed that authorities are planning to start the Pernem-Karwar DEMU and Margao-Manguluru Central DEMU trains and these trains will make stops at Canacona.
