KOCHI: The Thiruvananthapuram Division of the Indian Railways requires replacing 140 track kilometres of rails during current fiscal, In a release, it admitted that the present practice of regulating trains en-route is not sufficient to execute the track maintenance works within the time frame. The statement also said, “this is causing major inconvenience to passengers due to loss of punctuality which is not predictable”.
It, however, stated that a review would be done periodically on the output achieved by the cancellation of the trains, based on maintenance works executed during the maintenance corridor (MC) line block coordinated by departments like traction distribution, signalling, etc. Track machines will be additionally used to complete target.
The division will also explore the possibility of providing alternate train services to passengers instead of cancelled passenger trains. The scope of additional stoppages for regular trains is also ascertained to offset the effect of cancellation. Four pairs of Passenger/MEMU trains are cancelled on a temporary basis, due to their comparative lower patronage being not covering office commuter timings, for two months.
