Relief for rail commuters at Ernakulam South, finally

Kochi: For long, the passengers arriving at the eastern entrance of world-class Ernakulam South Railway station faced the risk of tripping down after a portion of the ground there has sunk in.

The Southern Railway is finally taking measures to resolve the issue on a permanent basis by raising major portion of the entrance portion before laying concrete and marbles there.

"The problem was there for the last over three years. The ground at the central portion has sunk in and because of the white marbles, we won't notice the same easily. Many got slipped and fallen down and for long the railways did nothing," said George Joseph, a resident of Kadavantra and a frequent traveller.

The railway authorities used to take temporary measures like plastering but the ground continued to sink in due to faulty foundation work.

"Now we've taken a major work to first raise half portion of the building besides the ticket counters there. Then concentrating will be done before laying marbles," said a senior railway official.

The work of the entrance building is on and is expected to be completed in another two weeks. "We'll demolish the existing booking office there and construct a new one after raising the basement," the official said.Meanwhile, the passengers have demanded the railways provide roof coverings all along the platforms. "Currently roofing is provided only for some part of the platforms. The passengers are having a tough time waiting for trains during the peak hours," Mr. Joseph said.

The officials, though, said the same will be rectified only when the work of raising the station into international standards will commence in a couple of months.