Kochi: The line capacity at the two busiest railway stations in the state -- Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam Junction -- has touched 150 per cent during peak hours with the existing infrastructure proving to be inadequate to meet the rising transportation demands.
The solution in the form of two new coaching terminals at vacant railway lands at Pullepaddy and Nemom was suggested long back. However, the railways has put the proposals on the back burner due to the huge project cost involved.
Now the state government has stepped in and renewed the demand by writing to the prime minister and the union railway minister to implement the key projects.
"The state has tied up with the railways and formed the Kerala Rail Development Corporation to enhance rail infrastructure in the state. Since the railway headquarters is in Chennai, we're experiencing huge delay in decision-making on almost all major projects. Now we've sent a letter requesting to take up major projects, especially the coaching terminals," Mr G. Sudhakaran, state minister in charge of railways, told DC.
The state hopes to get new trains and the ones already announced in the new budget once doubling works in Kottayam and Alapuzha sections get completed. While the additional track construction activities in the 115-km Ernakulam-Kottayam-Kayamkulam and the 45-km Kayamkulam- Alppuzha sections are expected to be over in a year or two, that in the 85-km Thiruvananthapuram- Kanyakumari section is slated to start soon.
"The instances of trains waiting for platforms at Ernakulam at nearby north station and the Atlantis Junction are increasing during peak hours. Often we alight at north station and go to our workplace by road rather than waiting for the trains to reach the Ernakulam south station, especially in the morning," said Mr R.D. Manikandan, coordinator, Edapally Railway Passengers' Association.
The situation in Thiruvananthapuram is more grave. "The line capacity at the Trivandrum central station has become 150 per cent full and often we can't take trains to the station and are being asked to wait at the outer ring. The capacity of the Kochuveli station has also become near full with the introduction of new weekly trains," said a loco-pilot on the condition of anonymity.
It's an everyday scenario that trains like the Malabar Express are halted at outer ring points for up to half an hour since all five existing platforms would be busy, he said. "The proposal to increase the platforms to seven and the setting up of the Nemom coach maintenance depot is crucial. The rakes can be shifted to the coach depot and other trains could chug in to the central station," he observed.
However, the railways are not too keen to take up the works immediately. When contacted, Divisional Railway Manager Prakash Bhutani said the Nemom coaching depot (10 pit lines and 15 stabling lines), that found mention in the railway budgets of 2008 and 2011, would cost a whopping Rs 600 crore for implementation.
"What we now plan is to set up a minimum facility coaching depot there when we take up the track doubling works there. One or two stabling lines will be constructed and then the pit lines. But that will take some time as for the doubling works to reach there, a lot of land acquisition and reconstruction of RoBs should be done first," the top official of Thiruvananthapuram division said.
Similarly in Ernakulam, the railways plan to manage the situation with the existing infrastructure. "We'll soon start train operation in the Harbour Terminus line. This would mean long-haul trains terminating at Ernakulam could be taken to the Harbour Terminus or Mattancherry Halt stations since traffic in the line will be minimum. Similarly, the work to set up an additional pit line at the Ernakulam marshalling yard is progressing which will facilitate inspection of additional two to three trains," Mr Bhutani said.
According to Mr Bhutani, the top priority should be accorded to setting up additional lines in the heavily saturated Ernakulam-Shoranur section. "With the completion of ongoing doubling works, the south section from Ernakulam could handle more traffic. However, that towards Shornur would prove to be a bottleneck," he said.
The railways itself carried out a study for setting up two more lines in the Shoranur-Ernakulam section which has been put on the backburner by the railway board as two doubling projects are progressing. The present railway network density in Kerala is 2.70 km per 100 square km which is above the national average of 2.01 km per 100 square km.
