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The end of the road for the Harbour Terminus?
A view of the Harbour Terminus railway station.
NOT MANY know that the Kanyakumari-Bangalore Express came to be known as the Island Express as it used to start from the Wellington Island in Kochi.
The Wellington Island, which was reclaimed from the sea, belongs to the Cochin Port Trust. At the extreme end of the island is situated the Harbour Terminus railway station. The station became operational in 1943 after rail connectivity was established with mainland Ernakulam. At least a dozen trains used to begin service from the island.
Now, no train calls at the station, which wears a deserted look. The only passenger train that used to ply to the island, the Cochin-Shornur passenger, and a few goods trains had to stop service three months ago after Kamal 28, a dredger deployed by the Cochin Port Trust, rammed into a pile of the Venduruthy bridge, damaging both the railway and road bridges. The rail bridge was declared unsafe for trains by the technical wing of the Railways.
The first train that operated from the station in 1943, the Cochin-Shornur passenger, ran as per the same timing and schedule for 60 years. The Cochin-Madras Express (now Alappuzha-Chennai Express) was introduced in 1944, with coaches to Bangalore and Bombay. Then came the Cochin-Ooty Tea Garden Express (now Trichy-Ernakulam Express). From Mettupalayam, the train operated on metre gauge to Ooty. The Island Express to Bangalore began service in the Sixties, till it was extended to Kanyakumari. The other trains that began service from the Harbour Terminus were the Jayanthi Janatha to Bombay, Netravathi Express, Bilaspur Express and trains to Dadar, Rajkot and Patna. The Day Express (now Parasuram Express) began service from here. Cargo and container traffic also began from the station, once the port developed.
The Area Manager, Railways, Ernakulam Region, Mathew George, says that the Assistant Traffic Manager, who headed railway operations in the region, was based in Wellington Island during the heyday of the station.
"But trains began to be redirected to other stations one by one, in 1978, when Trivandrum was chosen as the base for the Southern India Railways. Many trains began to start service from Ernakulam. Extension of rail electrification work in the six-kilometre route from Ernakulam to Wellington Island was stalled after the Navy and Civil Aviation Department objected to the proposal, citing that the power lines would be too close to the flight path of aircrafts," says Mathew.
The cost of constructing a 600-metre bridge parallel to the old one may go up from the expected Rs. 21 crores to Rs. 25 crores. The Cochin Port Trust has promised help to construct the bridge as moving containers and cargo from the harbour by road to different places has become a costly business. Coal and other goods too are being transported to the railway marshalling yard at Katrikadavu by road. This may ultimately result in a fall in number of ships that call at the port and subsequent loss of revenue for both the Cochin Port and the Railways.
By John L. Paul
Photo: Vipinchandran
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Life
Bangalore
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