Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Railway budget fails to address State’s needs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Although Kerala managed to get a rail coach factory at Kanjikode in the railway budget presented by Minister for Railways Lalu Prasad, the State’s genuine needs of the railway network were not addressed.

The coach factory will not solve the problems faced by the State and the commuters, former Chairman of the Railway Board M. N. Prasad told The Hindu. “It will only help Indian Railways.”

“It is a poor compensation for the territory lost by the State,” said railway officials. Land acquisition being a major hurdle, Railways have now put the onus on Kerala to acquire 1,000 acres.

Bifurcating the Palakkad division to create a division at Salem had made it the smallest division with just 587 km. The long-pending demands for an exclusive zone, commencement of Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMU) for short-distance commuters and world-class terminal at Thiruvananthapuram Central have missed the bus in the budget.

Railway sources said immediate needs like a dedicated third line from Thiruvananthapuram to Shoranur, a periodic overhauling workshop at Nemom and dedicated lines for operating MEMU services have failed to get into the “please-all budget.”

Of the 10 Garib Raths announced, Kerala got one, from Kochuveli to Bangalore, and three of the 53 new trains. They are Kochuveli- Amritsar Express, Kochuveli- Dehradun Express and the Shoranur- Nilambur Passenger. Among the 16 pairs of train extended, only the 2677/2678 Bangalore-Coimbatore Express had been extended up to Ernakulam. Only the 2431/2432 New Delhi- Thiruvananthapuram Rajadhani Express figure among the 11 trains whose frequencies had been increased. From a weekly train, it had been made a tri-weekly.

Angadipuram- Kozhikode and Kanhangad- Panathur railway lines figure in the 37 new lines for survey. While world-class railway stations were sanctioned for Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and Secunderabad, Thiruvananthapuram Central was ignored.

Terming the budget a populist one, Mr. Prasad said it was disappointing to see that no steps had been taken for the doubling of the 87-km Thiruvananthapuram- Kanyakumari stretch and commencement of MEMU services in the State, which should have been a priority.

The classic example of neglect is the Kollam- Shencottah stretch. Monitoring was needed to complete the projects on time and to ensure that money allocated to Kerala did not get diverted to Tamil Nadu.

“The announcements show that our Ministers are not forceful as Mr. Velu,” he said referring to the Union Minister of State for Railways R. Velu.

Railway officials are wondering how to commence new trains from Kochuveli as it does not have facilities. The Hyderabad-bound Sabari Express from Kochuveli is operating from the capital.

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