Kerala - Palakkad   

Palakkad loses sleeper unit

Staff Reporter

PALAKKAD: In the wake of the creation of the Salem railway division by bifurcating the Palakkad division, Southern Railway has dropped the proposal for a concrete sleeper factory in Palakkad.

In the last Railway Budget it was announced that the old concrete sleeper factory at the Palakkad Town railway station would be revived. But Southern Railway General Manager Thomas Verghese told a press conference here on Wednesday that the proposal was dropped at it was found not viable. Also, the line doubling work between Shoranur and Mangalapuram will not be completed as scheduled in March next because of the shortage of concrete sleepers.

He said the electrification work between Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram had got completed, but a delay on the part of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in providing power supply at Kazhakuttam and Chingavanam to the railway grid had affected its commissioning scheduled for this month.

Shortage of coaches

Mr. Verghese said more coaches could not be attached to trains such as the Amrita Express because of shortage of coaches. There is a shortage of at least 400 coaches now.

He said the demand for a new daily train between Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram was being considered and it could be operational by the next timetable year.

He said the work on the Kadukkamkunnu and V.H. Road railway overbridges in Palakkad town would start soon as the tenders were invited and sanction of the Railway Safety Commission was being given.

He said the work on a Rs.2.84-crore new booking office at Palakkad Junction would start soon. The work on the extension of the second and third platforms, at a cost of Rs.3.4 crores, would be taken up immediately.

The work on converting the metre gauge at the Palakkad Town railway station to broad gauge, at a cost of Rs.1.8 crores, will begin shortly.

He said that in order to extend the second platform at the Ernakulam Town railway station for accommodating 22 coaches, Railways had requested the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) to provide land.

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