Kochi: With their low fares and quick running between destinations, the MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) trains are a hit with the commuters of the state, but the services are yet to get regular here. Now with the withdrawal of the MEMU rake for the circular service and handing it over to the Palakkad division, the hopes of running the MEMU services on all seven days have virtually ended.
“Currently there are eight MEMU services using four rakes. However, they all run only six days a week. If we had retained the circular MEMU rake too, then we could have run these services on all seven days by stopping the ‘no-demand’ midnight service and judiciously rescheduling the timings. Now all these hopes have faded,” a senior railway official said on condition of anonymity.
It is also learnt that no new MEMU rake with toilet facilities is due to be rolled out of the Kapurthala coach factory for the next six months. The midnight service (one-side) costs the railways Rs 80, 000 for operation but the daily collection was far below expectations, often below Rs 1,000.
In March, Mr L. David, deputy chief electrical engineer (Chennai headquarters), had promised that all the MEMU services would be made operational on all seven days upon receipt of a spare rake.
“So when we received the circular MEMU rake, we’re really hopeful. Since the service was announced in the budget, we couldn’t by ourselves divert the midnight service for running it on all days. So we’d even asked for the permission of the railway headquarters,” the official said.
Mr Paul K.J. Manvettom, president of All-Kerala Railway Users Association, said, “What we’re demanding is the change in timings of the circular MEMU. The commencement of journey from Kollam could be changed to early morning and that from Ernakulam in the evening delayed by an hour for the benefit of office- goers. But instead they have taken back the rake and replaced it with a passenger one,” he said.
The circular MEMU, sanctioned in the 2013-14 railway budget, is being operated on all days except Wednesdays. Similarly, the Ernakulam-Kottayam-Kollam MEMU is not running on Saturdays and the Ernakulam-Alappuzha-Kollam on Mondays. There is no Kollam-Nagercoil MEMU on Fridays and no Ernakulam-Palakkad MEMU service on Tuesdays currently.
The Kollam maintenance shed for MEMU rakes, kept idle for over a year despite the work being over, should also be made fully functional if the services need to be operated on all seven days of the week. “Currently, it has the bare minimum staff strength of 18 against the ideal number of 36 personnel,” the officer said
