Thiruvananthapuram: The railway budget has again let down the state by providing no major projects or allocations except proposing the suburban railway service between Thiruvananthapuram and Chengannur.
The Chenganoor railway station will be converted as a pilgrimage station for Sabarimala devotees. Even the prestigious projects announced in the previous budgets have failed to find a mention this time.
The Sabari railway line, a long- standing demand of the state government, received only Rs 20 crore. An amount of Rs 1 crore has been earmarked for the development of Kochuveli station.
However, even railway officials have said that the amount would be sufficient only for paying the pending bills.
Though the 236-km Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line with a total cost of Rs 6,000 crore has been included in the budget, the railway ministry would take up the project only using extra budgetary resources.
The same is the case with the Kannur-Mattannur line costing Rs 400 crore. This has also been earmarked under extra budgetary resources.
The budget also proposed a survey for the Dindigul-Sabarimala railway line and allotted a paltry amount of Rs 0.30 crore.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said that the suburban train service would be similar to the Bengaluru model. Discussions will be held with the state on how to implement the project.
The mega projects for the state announced in the previous budget included the rail coach factory at Kanjikode, coach depots for Nemom and Kottayam, railway medical college and the bottling plants in Thiruvananthapuram and wagon manufacturing unit at Cherthala.
