Admin blamed for airport station delay

Kochi: The Railways has asked the Ernakulam to speed up the process of giving permission to set up the halt station at Nedumbassery, near the Cochin International Airport. A foundation stone was laid for the project over four years ago.

“The construction of the Halt station has been pending only on account of the delay in getting the LC gate No 64 closed at 80/90 km speed. As per the rule, prior permission has to be obtained from the district collector concerned for gate closure. We’ve written a letter to the collector for speedy action in this regard,” a top railway officer told DC on Saturday.

When contacted District Collector M G Rajamanickam said permission would be given soon. ”We require the consent of the local authorities. I’ve personally called the officials and asked them expedite the project. We hope to clear the project at the earliest.”

The then Union Minister of State for Railways E Ahamed laid the foundation stone for the halt station in December 2010. However, it remained a non-starter for over three years with the railways citing “fund shortage” as a major hurdle. Finally the Railway Board cleared the project last year.

Many people from the Malabar region are depending on Cochin Airport due to lack of sufficient international and national flights from Kozhikode airport.

A halt station at Nedumbasserry will be a great boon to people from the region as all trains pass through Nedumbasserry, said CE Chakkunni, working chairman of the Confederation of All India Rail Users Association.

“We request authorities concerned to take immediate steps for the completion of the project that would benefit hundreds of air commuters”, he added.