Kochi: The railways has started a tedious process of ‘carving out’ a 161-km section -- Trivandrum-Nagercoil-Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli-Nagercoil sectors, from the Thiruvananthapuram division and transfer it to neighbouring Madurai, a move that is expected to further weaken the division both in terms of earnings and infrastructure.
The Railway Board, in a recent letter to the general manager, Southern Railways, and the divisional railway manager’s (DRM) office sought the remarks of the higher authorities here for taking forward the initiative to “bifurcate” the division.
“We’ve received a communication from the board on the matter seeking our opinion. In my view, the issue of earnings won’t be a problem but a decision has to be taken about the maintenance facility and staff deployed at the major station Nagercoil,” said DRM Prakash Bhutani.
Currently most of the popular trains like Parasuram and Eranad terminate service at Nagercoil Junction, an ‘A’ category station, where the coach maintenance is being done.
Nearly 750 people too are employed in the section who could end up posting in Madurai sector.
As per the plan, the Tirunelveli-Nagercoil and Kanyakumari-Nagercoil-Trivandrum sectors (161 km) from the Thiruvananthapuram section would be transferred to Madurai division while the Sengottai-Kollam section (94 km) from Madurai division would be brought under the Thiruvananthapuram section.
“The move will be a major setback to demand for a separate zone by the state. The minimum route distance required for zone will not be met. Finally it will lead to the state confined to a single division (comprising Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad) instead of its zone demand,” said P Krishnakumar, General Secretary, Thrissur Railway Passengers Association.
