Rs.30 lakh allotted in Railway Budget for development of station as a satellite terminal for Thiruvananthapuram Central

Lack of budgetary support is preventing the railway authorities from developing Kochuveli as a satellite terminal of Thiruvananthapuram Central.

Only Rs.30 lakh has been allotted for the second-phase development works in Kochuveli in this year's Railway Budget, though Rs.10 crore is needed for completion of the ongoing works.

“With the allotted sum, we will be able to complete only the pit line. The much-needed foot over-bridge to link the old Kochuveli railway station and the satellite terminal will also have to wait owing to lack of funds,” says Divisional Railway Manager Rajiv Dutt Sharma.

Although 28 long-distance mail and express trains are operating on a weekly basis from the terminal, it has only one pit line and one platform. With these limited facilities, the Railways will also have to operate the new trains announced in the Railway budget. The timings and days of operation of the Kochuveli-Bhavnagar Weekly Express and Kochuveli-Porbander Express figure in the railway timetable that come into effect from this month.

Many woes

The platform does not have canopy to cover all the coaches and the lighting is woefully inadequate.

Cloak room, information centre, adequate toilet facilities, telephone booths, book stall and refreshment stalls are yet to come up at the terminal.

The public address system is not effective and poor connectivity from the capital is another problem for the commuters.

Railway sources said only the secondary maintenance of coaches is done at Kochuveli now due to lack of facilities.

The five pit lines at Thiruvananthapruam Central are saturated and it is handling trains two-and-a-half times more than its sanctioned capacity. Hence, Kochuveli needs to be developed at the earliest for smooth railway traffic.

New facilities

The railways are now creating facilities at Kochuveli to receive and despatch 10-15 trains without acquiring land. Two platforms, including an island platform (to receive trains on both sides), two more pit lines and a sick line complex have been proposed. With this, the number of platforms in Kochuveli will go up to three.

Railways will be able to handle nine originating trains from Kochuveli once the minimum infrastructure is created.

Platform turn-round facilities of another three to five long distance trains can also be handled at Kochuveli, sources said.

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