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One hundred years of a rail journey
The monumental 13-pillar railway flyover at Thenmala on the century-old Kollam-Shencotta metre gauge route.
June 1, 1904 - the day the first train began its journey from Kollam (then Quilon) through a metre gauge rail route passing through, Kundara, Kottarakara and Punalur to reach Shencotta. Since then, for the past 100 years, passenger trains and freight carriers have been regularly chugging up and down the route every other day.
The coaches and engine for the maiden journey were brought to Quilon from Tuticorin on a ship, unloaded at the Kochupilamoodu Port and transported to the railway yard in huge bullock carts. The Kollam-Shencotta rail journey passes through a landscape that is a feast for the eyes.
After Punalur, the train enters a route that provides the passenger with an opportunity to enjoy a fine slice of a typical tropical forest.
During the British days it was dense forests. But these days, it is not as dense as it was in the past. Even after 100 years, the infrastructure of the route has not undergone any major alteration. The flyover with 13 granite pillars between Thenmala and Aryankavu is simply breathtaking and by all standards a monument. The structure is by and large still the same as it was constructed more than a 100 years ago. While many of the metre gauge rail routes constructed by the British were converted into broad gauge lines long ago, the Kollam-Schencotta route remains a metre gauge. Though gauge conversion sanction has been cleared for this route, the work was yet to commence.
By Ignatius Pereira
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