Published Aug 25, 2026 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 25, 2026 | 9:00 AM
Palakkad Junction Railway Station. (Indian Railways)
Synopsis: Keralam is mounting political pressure against the Railways’ decision to shift its Mangaluru region from Palakkad Division to Mysuru. The state feels the move will deliver a major blow to Palakkad’s territory, freight revenue, and railway interests. The move has also exposed a sharp political divide within the BJP, with its Karnataka unit celebrating the decision while its Keralam unit faces growing pressure to take a stand.
The Ministry of Railways’ decision to shift the Mangaluru railway region, up to Ullal, from Southern Railway’s Palakkad Division to South Western Railway’s Mysuru Division from 1 October 2026, has triggered strong resentment in Keralam, while Karnataka wholeheartedly welcomed it.
The move has also put the BJP’s units in the two states on opposite sides of an issue that carries significant political and financial stakes.
Keralam has now approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention and is preparing to mobilise its MPs to raise the issue with the Centre. The state is seeking a halt to the transfer until its concerns are considered.
The CPI(M)-led Opposition in Keralam has also opposed the Railway Ministry’s decision.
The BJP, meanwhile, finds itself in an awkward position. Its Karnataka unit has welcomed the move, which has been closely associated with the efforts of V Somanna, Union Minister of State for Railways and BJP MP from Tumakuru. In Keralam, however, the party’s state unit has maintained a stoic silence on the issue.
Keralam’s concern is rooted in the Palakkad Division’s long-standing role in managing railway operations in northern Keralam and the Mangaluru region. The proposed transfer will take Mangaluru Central, Mangaluru Junction and key port-linked infrastructure, including Panambur, out of the division.
The financial impact is also significant. State government assessments show that the Mangaluru region contributes over 90% of Palakkad Division’s freight revenue, estimated at around ₹650 crore, and more than half of its total revenue of about ₹1,650 crore.
Government sources in Keralam, however, said the state has little room to negotiate a reversal of the decision. The immediate focus, they said, is on mounting political pressure on the Centre and seeking a stay on the transfer before it takes effect.
The Palakkad Railway Division is once again facing a major loss of territory and revenue, years after it was significantly reduced following the creation of the Salem Division in 2007.
Palakkad Railway Division
Palakkad had originally covered 1,247.58 route km.
Around 550 route km were carved out when the Salem Division was formed, leaving the division with only 582.7 route km today.
At the time, Keralam sought reassurance with the proposed Kanjikode Coach Factory.
The Centre has since officially abandoned the project, without announcing any concrete alternative for the state.
The proposed transfer of the Mangaluru area to the South Western Railway’s Mysuru Division would further reduce the reach and revenue base of Palakkad Division.
Mangaluru has been part of the division for decades and remains one of its most important railway areas.
The proposed reorganisation covers not only Mangaluru Central and Mangaluru Junction, but also key railway infrastructure in the Mangaluru port belt, including Panambur. The area handles substantial freight and container traffic and has a major role in the division’s freight operations.
The financial impact is also significant.
The Mangaluru region is estimated to account for more than 90 per cent of Palakkad Division’s freight revenue, put at around ₹650 crore. It also contributes more than half of the division’s total revenue of about ₹1,650 crore. The freight and marshalling facilities at Panambur form a major part of this revenue.
The proposed transfer therefore comes at a time when the division is already operating with a much smaller territorial base than it had before 2007.
The formation of the Salem Division had taken away the Coimbatore region and a substantial portion of Palakkad’s jurisdiction.
Nearly two decades later, the proposed removal of the Mangaluru region would further cut into the division’s territory, freight operations and revenue base.
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Chief Minister VD Satheesan has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the Railways’ decision to transfer the Mangaluru area to the Mysuru Division, saying the move could have serious long-term consequences for Keralam’s railway infrastructure and development.
An excerpt of the letter written by CM V D Satheesan to the PM
In a letter to the Prime Minister on 24 August, Satheesan said the Railway Board’s 21 August decision had been made without any prior consultation with the Keralam government.
The Chief Minister said changes to railway divisions could not be treated as merely internal administrative arrangements. Such decisions, he pointed out, directly affect regional connectivity, infrastructure investment, freight movement, passenger services and the economic development of the areas served by the divisions.
Given the wider implications, the state government and other stakeholders should have been consulted before taking such a major decision, Satheesan said.
He requested the Prime Minister to direct the Railway Ministry to reconsider the decision after holding consultations with the Keralam government.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan strongly criticised the move, warning that it could severely weaken the Palakkad Division.
Vijayan said the transfer of Mangaluru to the Mysuru Division was expected to cut the Palakkad Division’s revenue by as much as 60%. He called for strong intervention by the State government and Kerala MPs to reverse the decision.
“With the addition of Mangalore to the Mysore Division, Palakkad Division is effectively ending,” Vijayan said, pointing out that stations up to Ullal had been shifted to the Mysuru Division.
He said the loss of Mangaluru, a major port city, would substantially impact the division’s earnings. Goods worth around ₹625 crore were handled through the Panambur Goods Yard during the last financial year, and this business would now be lost to the Palakkad Division.
Vijayan also said trains currently originating from Mangaluru, including services to Thiruvananthapuram, would come under the Mysuru Division. As a result, he argued, Palakkad could be left without a single train originating from within its division.
The Railways said the reorganisation aimed to address concerns about railway administration and services.
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Minister of State Somanna has described the Railway Board’s decision to bring the Mangaluru railway area under the South Western Railway’s Mysuru Division as a “historic decision for coastal Karnataka”.
Railway’s 21 August decision of transferring Mangaluru to Mysore Division
Sharing the Railway Board directive, Somanna said the move would bring Mangaluru’s railway administration under a single regional framework, with the divisional headquarters at Mysuru and the zonal headquarters at Hubballi.
The Minister said the change would end the long-standing administrative division of the Mangaluru railway network, reduce jurisdictional issues, improve grievance redressal and facilitate faster development of railway infrastructure in the region.
Somanna said resolving the issue had been one of his priorities.
He recalled visiting Mangaluru in July 2024, when he chaired a meeting with the General Managers of South Western Railway and Southern Railway, along with the CMD of Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd, to work out a permanent solution.
He said Mangaluru, being a major economic and port centre of Karnataka, would benefit from having its railway network under a common administrative jurisdiction. Such an arrangement, he said, would improve coordination and help the region realise its economic potential.
Dakshina Kannada BJP MP Brijesh Chowta, who had been campaigning for the transfer, described it as a long-pending demand. He said the decision would reduce jurisdictional hurdles, improve coordination, enable quicker resolution of passenger grievances and give greater attention to railway infrastructure and connectivity in coastal Karnataka.
Bengaluru Central BJP MP PC Mohan also welcomed the move, calling it a “rational administrative decision”. “Mangaluru is in Karnataka, and its railway administration must serve Karnataka’s interests,” he said.
Former Karnataka minister and BJP leader Pramod Madhwaraj said the state had “suffered enough”, and that justice had finally been done after decades of struggle. He called on the Karnataka government and MPs cutting across party lines to support the decision and urged them not to yield to pressure from Kerala.
The decision, however, has triggered opposition in Keralam.
UDF MPs’ meeting on 23 August
At an online meeting of Kerala’s UDF MPs on 23 August, the MPs decided to protest the Railway Board’s move, alleging that it was taken without consulting the Kerala government or MPs from the affected constituencies.
The UDF MPs demanded that the decision be kept in abeyance until a detailed discussion is held with the stakeholders. MPs from the Palakkad division and other affected areas will organise a dharna as part of the protest.
Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor said a letter to the Union Railway Minister had been drafted and would be signed and submitted by the UDF MPs.
“Kerala is entitled to a hearing, a fair process and a just outcome,” he said.
Bengaluru BJP leaders, including MPs, have rushed to claim credit for the Railway Board’s decision to shift the Mangaluru area, saying their sustained efforts helped secure the long-pending change.
BJP Karnataka’s social media post on the transfer
The claims have put the BJP’s Kerala unit in a difficult position, as the order affects the Mangaluru area, including Ullal, which has traditionally been part of the Palakkad Division.
The Kerala BJP leadership has largely maintained silence on the decision so far.
The position is particularly notable because the party’s state unit called a statewide hartal in 2007 when the Palakkad Division was bifurcated to create the Salem Division under the UPA government at the Centre.
Senior BJP leader PK Krishnadas, however, defended the latest Railway Board decision, arguing that the bifurcation and transfer of stations, including Mangaluru, would benefit development in Kerala.
Krishnadas, who has served as chairman of the Passenger Amenities Committee, an advisory body of the Indian Railways, said the Railways operated with a single financial account and that any reduction in revenue for the Palakkad Division would correspondingly increase the revenue of the Mysuru Division.
He also dismissed concerns that passengers would lose out on facilities following the administrative change.
“The passengers will not be deprived of facilities. Within the next three years, they will get facilities many times better than what they have now,” Krishnadas told reporters.
Earlier, Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh had sought a clear statement from the Kerala BJP on the Railway Board’s decision.
He asked whether the state BJP backed the Centre’s move and said that if it opposed the transfer, its leaders should put pressure on the Railway Ministry to withdraw the order.
Karnataka BJP leaders’ claims that their intervention led to the decision have now brought the Kerala unit’s position under sharper scrutiny, particularly as the move directly affects the Palakkad Division and its railway interests.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
