The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Government asks Railways to shelve Erumeli line

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 27, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Government asks Railways to shelve Erumeli line

Staff Reporter

Electrification up to Thiruvananthapuram to be over by October

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government has written to the Railways to shelve the proposal for a railway line from Kottayam to Erumeli.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, the Divisional Railway Manager, G. Narayanan, said the Government had not mentioned any reason for the request. The proposed line was not feasible and had been opposed by the local people as it might lead to environmental problems, he added.

The Railway official said funds would not be a constraint for laying the lines that had been sanctioned between Tanur and Guruvayur and Angamali and Sabarimala.

The State had been asked to expedite acquisition of land for these projects.

Dr. Narayanan said the Government should take the initiative for laying a line from Kayamkulam to Kottarakara, via Adoor. The Divisional Railway authorities had taken up the proposal with the Minister for Water Resources, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who was holding additional charge of Railways.

The proposed line could be a boon to the local population and the State. Besides access to the lines via Kottayam and Alappuzha, it could be extended to Avaneeshwaram in Tamil Nadu. Dr. Narayanan said the capital could be linked to it by laying a line from the city to Kottarakara.

He said the Railways would accord high priority to the doubling of the Ernakulam-Mulanthurthi and Kayamkulam-Mavelikara tracks. Infrastructure works on the former would be completed before December. A survey for doubling the Kanyakumari-Thiruvananthapuram line had been approved. Electrification up to Thiruvananthapuram Central would be completed by October, he added.

Earnings

Earnings of the division during 2004-2005 went to Rs. 262 crores from Rs. 247 crores in 2003-2004.

The number of passengers rose from 60 million to 64 million during the period. The earnings from parcel traffic went up from Rs. 6.68 crores to Rs. 8.57 crores. The number of trains operated increased from 617 to 739 and high-capacity parcel vans from 72 to 223.

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