The long-awaited gauge conversion between Palakkad and Pollachi to enhance rail connectivity between North Kerala and pilgrim centres such as Rameswaram, Erwadi, Madurai, and Palani is likely to miss the Southern Railway’s latest deadline of December 31 if the slow progress of construction works is any indication.
Work is moving at snail’s pace at Muthalamada, Kollangode, Puthunagaram, and Kinassery. “Railways has extended deadlines in the last four years, but the work has not made any steady progress. The delay is causing a huge drain on railway’s coffers not to speak of passengers’ hardship,’’ said M.B. Rajesh, MP, who raised the issue in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. He said the delay would cripple the overall railway development in Malabar region.
Southern Railway general manager Ragesh Mishra had reviewed the ongoing construction works in May and had assured railway passenger associations that there would not be any further delay in completing the work.
Though the railway authorities had promised to complete the work before the onset of this year’s monsoon, tardy progress in the construction of 73 minor bridges on the 55-km route is now being cited as the reason for the delay.
Track layingLaying of tracks was also progressing at a slow pace.
Work on major bridges at Mampallam, Mandankara, Kinassery, and Puthunagaram are in the final stages but contractors were going slow on their completion, it is alleged.
The metre gauge between Pollachi and Palakkad was closed down in 2008 with an assurance that it would be reopened in 16 months as a broad-gauge. Metre gauge lines linking Pollachi with Podanur in Coimbatore and Palani in Dindigul too have been closed for doubling.
While work on the Palani-Pollachi route has already been completed, it is facing delay in the Pollachi-Podanur section owing to disputes over land acquisition. According to C. Murugan, president of Kollangode Railway Passengers Association, the line would help reroute trains from Tirunelveli to Mumbai and other locations on the Konkan route reducing the distance. New trains would also help transportation of vegetables, pulses and grain, he said.
