Kerala - Kollam   

Rail users pin hopes on budget

KOLLAM: Rail commuters are hopeful of receiving a substantial allocation to begin Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) services in the State in the railway budget to be presented on Friday.

President of the Railway Passengers Association (RPA) S. Ulhas Kumar told The Hindu that MEMU services were proposed to be operated from three bases — Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode.

The bases are Thiruvananthapuram to Kayamkulam, Ernakulam to Alappuzha, Kottayam to Thrissur and Kozhikode to Shornur, Tirur and Kannur.

Mr. Kumar said statistics given by the Railways put the number of commuters on the Thiruvananthapuram-Kayamkulam sector at roughly 18,000; 12,000 on the Ernakulam-Kottayam sector; 14,000 on the Alappuzha-Ernakulam sector; 17,000 on the Kannur-Kozhikode sector; and 16,000 on the Thrissur-Ernakulam sector.

The Railways has already made allocation for the construction of MEMU maintenance yards in Palakkad and Kollam.

The Kollam yard has been alloted Rs. 7.5 crore. Work on the yard has already begun. The yard will be built behind the booking office here.

The yard in Palakkad will be near the Akathithara railway gate, where the wood sleeper factory of the Railways was located. A sum of Rs.8.5 crore has been allocated for the Palakkad yard.

Electrification and doubling of lines are necessary for these services.

Railway officials said work on doubling of the line on the Ernakulam-Kayamkulam sector was in progress and sanction for doubling of line between Kayamkulam and Ambalapuzha had been granted.

However, sanction for doubling of the Alappuzha-Ernakulam section and the Kozhikode-Shornur section was still awaited.

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