Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Central station to be upgraded

Staff Reporter

To world-class standards in five years through public-private partnership

ONLINE DISPLAY: The Rs.16-lakh electronic reservation chart display system commissioned by General Manager, Southern Railway, Thomas Varghese at the central railway station on Thursday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thiruvananthapuram central railway station would be upgraded to world class standards within five years through public-private partnership.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, General Manager of Southern Railway Thomas Varghese said the railways had not finalised the awarding of the Rs.1 crore consultancy for the project in Thiruvananthapuram.

The idea is to provide world class facilities such as shopping malls and food malls in the railway stations as in Europe and other countries. It is estimated that Rs.300 crore would be needed for upgrading Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram stations and it would be implemented through public-private partnership.

Mr. Varghese said the bullet trains proposed between Chennai and Kochi and Chennai and Bangalore are only in the preliminary stage of discussion. Compared to the Rs.3-crore investment needed for a km for running a normal train, the bullet train would need an investment of Rs.60 crore a km.

On the development of the satellite terminal at Kochuveli, the General Manager said the Rs.22-crore project had been sanctioned. Provision for Rs.50 lakh had been made this year. “The Railway Board had been requested to provide more allocation and we hope more funds to come this year,” he added.

The General Manager said Thiruvananthapuram division would be granted Rs.20 crore for passenger amenities this year.

Panniyan Ravindran, MP, who was present along with the Divisional Railway Manager S. Vijayakumaran, said the Railways should construct a foot overbridge from the central station to KSRTC bus station. The Railways have agreed to the proposal and the project would be taken once land is allotted.

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