Till 1998, direct rail connectivity between Mangaluru and Mumbai on the West Coast was a dream. On January 26, 1998, the people on the West Coast of India saw their dream becoming a reality with the operation of a train on the newly-built Konkan railway route.

George Fernandes had played a key role as Railway Minister in the establishment of this 760-km rail route between Roha in Maharashtra and Thokur near Mangaluru.

After assuming charge as Railway Minister in 1989, Fernandes had told his officers at Rail Bhavan in Delhi that the Konkan Railway along the West Coast was one of the main projects that he had in his mind.

The Platinum Jubilee Souvenir of the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) credits George Fernandes for the formation of Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd (KRCL) in 1990, convincing then Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala.

The project was included in the Railway Budget he presented in 1990.

The souvenir notes that, for the first time, the government departed from its policy of controlling railway projects. Instead, it made the four beneficiary States of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala partners in the autonomous corporation, with E Sreedharan as its Chairman and Managing Director.

In 2015, Suresh Prabhu, then Railway Minister, announced the establishment of a George Fernandes Institute of Tunnelling Technology by Konkan Railway Corporation in Goa. The idea was mooted to provide training to engineers on tunnelling technology as the country did not have an institute for the same.

A native of Mangaluru, George Fernandes studied at St Aloysius Institute in Mangaluru till matriculation. In 2013, he donated around 3,500 books to the library of St Aloysius College through his associates Fredrick D’Sa of Mumbai and Clarence Pais of Mangaluru. The collection included books on railways, defence and history.

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