A foot overbridge constructed at a cost of Rs.61 lakh and an advanced reservation system were commissioned at the Parassala railway station by Shashi Tharoor, MP, on Saturday.
With the introduction of the advance reservation system, the residents of Parassala can now book tickets to and from any railway station across the nation. At present, they were reserving the tickets from the stations at Kuzhithurai and Neyyattinkara. The reservation facility will be available from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Halt for trains
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Tharoor said the two facilities were only a beginning and various development projects for the Parassala railway station would be chalked out in a phased manner. The Union Railway Ministry had agreed in principle to grant stoppage for Kanyakumari - Mumbai Express and Chennai Egmore -Thiruvananthapuram Ananthapuri Express at the station. He said notification granting the stoppage would be issued soon.
Railways had given permission to raise the level of platform 2 at the station so that the passengers could board the train without difficulty, he said.
A.T. George, MLA, in his address, appealed to Railways to utilise the vast track of land available with it at Parassala for the proposed Railway Medical College sanctioned for Thiruvananthapuram in the railway budget two years ago.
Parassala grama panchayat president T.K. Sarojni also spoke. Divisional Railway Manager Rajeev Dutt Sharma welcomed the gathering and Additional Divisional Railway Manager V. Rajeeven proposed the vote of thanks.