Nightmare for passengers alighting at Piravom station

Kochi: Sreedevi K, who works at the Kozhikode Regional Transport Office, visits her house at Piravom during weekends. However, for the last three months, she is anxious when the Mangalore-Thiruvananthapuram Express leaves Ernakulam station.

“Piravom station has no signboards at all since the completion of renovation works three months ago. There is no way we commuters can make sure whether it has reached Piravom or Kottayam stations especially with the train reaching well after midnight,” she rues.

There have been instances when commuters have alighted at Piravom thinking it was Kottayam. “The next big station after Ernakulam is Kottayam. However, Piravom station has been well-lit and in the absence of destination boards, commuters confuse it for Kottayam,” said Anil Kumar, a regular commuter.

The station renovation work was completed three months back. However, the authorities have not even set up boards bearing the station’s name at any of the platforms.

When contacted, a railway official gave the usual standard reply. “We are in the process of setting up the boards.”

Meanwhile, there is a demand for onboard display of stations in each coach so that passengers could know whether the train has reached their destination point or not.

“It is very difficult if you have to alight at any station in the night. Every coach must be fitted with a display board that shows the current place that the train is passing through.

In this age of technological development, such passenger-friendly initiatives should not be ignored,” said Dr C J John, noted psychiatrist.