The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Two trains for State still on paper

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Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Two trains for State still on paper

S. Anil Radhakrishnan

Poor infrastructure at Kochuveli cited as reason
The service has to be commenced before March

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is all set to present the interim railway budget in Parliament later this week. But, two Express trains announced in last year’s budget for the State — from Kochuveli to Dehradun and Yeswantpur — still remain on paper.

As these trains will have to be commenced before March this year, the Railway authorities are making all efforts towards this end. Lack of rakes and delay in creating infrastructure facilities at Kochuveli are cited as the main hurdles.

Of the three new express trains announced by Mr. Prasad in the budget, the 2484/2483 Amritsar-Kochuevli-Amritsar weekly Superfast Expresses started running from January 28. Significantly, there was no function to flag-off the maiden journey of the train from the satellite terminal.

The Kochuveli-Yeswantpur-Kochuveli Tri-weekly Garib Rath was operated as a special train.

“The rake of the Kochuveli-Dehradun Weekly Express has arrived in Chennai. The trains will start running from this month end,” Divisional Railway Manager Titus Koshy told The Hindu.

Frequency increased

The frequency of the Thiruvananthapuram-Nizamuddin Rajadhani Express has been increased from bi-weekly to a tri-weekly as per the announcement made by Mr. Prasad in the budget.

At present, the Railways are handling four pairs of trains from Kochuveli — the weekly Sampark Kranthi Express to Chandigarh, the bi-weekly Garib Rath to Lokmanya Tilak, the tri-weekly Express to Bangalore city and the Amritsar-Kochuveli-Amritsar Weekly Superfast Express — with just one pit line and two platforms.

The divisional railway authorities are pondering how to handle the new trains at Kochuveli with the limited traffic facilities and passenger amenities. The pit line at Kochuveli is already saturated.

The rakes of the trains commencing from the satellite terminal are now being hauled to the central station and back to Kochuveli for maintenance due to the absence of a sick line at the terminal. The 7229/30 Thiruvananthapuram-Hyderabad-Thiruvananthapuram Sabari Express is operating from Thiruvananthapuram instead of Kochuveli since it was inaugurated. Mr. Koshy said the Rs.29-crore project to set up two stabling lines, one pit line and a sick line at Kochuveli will commence soon as tender formalities are completed.

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