Rail passengers raise concern over trains in Kerala

KOZHIKODE: The Confederation of All-India Rail Users Associations on Saturday expressed concern over trains in Kerala especially those linking the Malabar region getting cancelled or delayed owing to safety measures. As the fast ones like Jan Shatabdi and Rajdhani getting affected, it immediately throws the connectivity for Malabar passengers out of gear, they said.

“When they are asked to choose between safety and speed, they have no other option but safety. But cancelling of speedy trains will, in turn, affect the rail connectivity. Adding to the worries is the neglect in maintaining the tracks,” said its chair Dr A.V. Anoop. Mayor Thottathil Raveendran also expressed his anxiety over the lack of passenger facilities, but he was more concerned about their safety.

The mayor also appreciated the confederation's efforts to send a delegation to the Centre and submit petitions to the Union railway minister and the board chair.
The team will also hold discussions with the chief minister, transport minister and works minister, before their Delhi visit, said its working chairperson C.E. Chakkunny.

“Shortly, the railway connectivity in Malabar is going to face the same plight of Calicut International Airport. The cancellation of high-speed trains as a precautionary measure to reduce the intensity of the impending accidents will gradually affect the passenger traffic here," he said. Already many season ticket holders are avoiding train journey after they started running late for hours. Now they run late by 30 minutes to two hours affecting office-goers who now increasingly depend on buses.

Wayanad rail: A dream taking off

The state signing a joint-venture pact with the Union railway ministry with Nilambur-Nanjangud line the third on its priority list has rekindled hopes of connectivity to Wayanad, hanging fire for more than a decade. “In the last state budget Rs 8 crore was allocated for the Wayanad railway in the non-budget allocations,” the Wayanad-Nilgiri National Highway and Railway Action Council convener T.M. Rasheed said.

Recently the state government had assigned Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and its chief advisor E. Sreedharan to prepare a detailed project report (DPR). The action council demanded the state to take immediate steps to identify private partners for the project and also to constitute a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the JV.

The intervention of Mr Sreedharan had resulted in reducing the length of the Nilambur-Nanjangud from 236 km to 156 km. The estimated cost also came down from Rs 4,266 crore to Rs 2,200 crore. The demand for the Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line is more than 100 years old, and it had figured in the 1881 budget proposals of the People’s Council of Mysore.