Kochi: The sudden stoppage of operation of six-city MEMU services in May citing poor patronage has hit regular officer goers and small distance commuters badly.
In a development that might resolve the commuting woes, the Railways is mulling to restart the peak hour MEMU service to Angamaly and to extend it to Thrissur later.
What prompted the authorities is the “worrying drop” in passengers, especially season ticket holders, in the Shornur-Ernakulam section.
“The advancement of the timing of Island Express by two hours also from 8.15 a.m. accounted for the commuter volume drop, which meant that after the departure of Guruvayur-Ernakulam passenger from Thrissur at 7.15 am, the next available train towards Ernakulam is only at 9.45 am. Hence we plan to operate MEMU service from Ernakulam to Angamaly during morning and evening peak hours. It can be extended to Thrissur to make the services viable,” said a senior railway official.
The Thiruvananthapuram divisional authorities have already submitted the proposal to the railway board. “We expect the same to be included in the new timetable,” he said.
Along with it, permission is also sought to make the existing MEMU services in Ernakulam-Kollam and Ernakulam-Palakkad sections operate on all days.
Currently, the MEMU trains run only six days a week. For instance, 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 services on Tuesdays currently.
The Southern Railways stopped a total of six train services besides short terminating two others, citing poor passenger patronage.
The trains cancelled includes Tr No 06731 (Ernakulam –Piravom – 6.15 am), Tr No 06732 (Piravom-Angamali –7.15 am), Tr No 06734 (Ernakulam-Angamali – 12.15 noon), Tr No 06735 (Angamali-Ernakulam – 1.55 pm), Tr No 06737 (Angamaly-Piravam— 5.35 pm) and Tr No 06738 (Piravam-Ernakulam – 8 pm).
