Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Railways to speed up amenities work

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thiruvananthapuram division of Southern Railway will speed up execution of 151 important passenger-amenity works this year at a cost of Rs.48 crores, Divisional Railway Manager Titus P. Koshy has said.

He was speaking after hoisting the national flag at the railway divisional office premises on Wednesday. Mr. Koshy took the salute from the Railway Protection Force personnel.

The work of installing 41 ATMs in 26 stations and that of setting up 124 ticket vending machines in 24 stations is proceeding as per schedule. The Thiruvananthapuram division has been provided the largest number of touch screens in the country. Continuous power supply will be provided to stations so that all passenger-amenity gadgets provide uninterrupted flow of information.

At a number of railway stations the height of the platform is becoming problematic for the elderly, the sick and for little children. This year there will be a major thrust to raise such low-level platforms.

The railways will also set up an exclusive air-conditioned dormitory at Thiruvananthapuram station for women passengers. Depending on the success of this experiment, more such dormitories will be provided at other stations, Mr. Koshy said. The railway machinery will be geared up to ensure that facilities provided to passengers are not made unhygienic by beggars and/or mendicants.

Courses in customer-care will be organised for railway employees so that they can interact more effectively with the public. Following the declaration by the Railway Minister that 2007 will be ‘year of cleanliness,’ mechanised cleaning has been introduced at Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, and Thrissur railway stations. Cleaning activities at 17 stations have been outsourced. As part of the cleanliness drive an NGO has been asked to prepare a project report on proper waste management and disposal programme for the railways.

The Division is also gearing up to run new trains such as the Kochuveli - Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak ‘Garib rath’ which will be a bi-weekly train; the overnight Combatore - Nagarcoil express via Madurai; a tri-weekly Kochuveli - Bangalore train instead of a weekly service and a daily Mangalore -Thiruvananthapuram Maveli express instead of the tri-weekly service now. Fifty per cent of passenger trains have already been given an additional bogie. This process will be continued in phases, Mr. Koshy said.

The overall earnings of the division during 2006-07 was Rs.505.22 crore. Of this Rs.359.12 crore was from the passenger side and Rs.101.15 crore from freight, he added.

After the march past by RPF personnel, the Force’s dog squad gave a demonstration of bomb-detection activities and detection of thieves.

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