The State expects a fair deal for completing doubling, electrification, new lines, and for augmenting rail infrastructure, with the Rail Budget to be subsumed in the General Budget for the first time.
With the assurance of Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and to BJP leaders that the State’s needs will be looked in to, hopes for an enhanced allocation for ongoing works and new projects in 2017-18 are high.
The Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad railway divisions got a budget outlay of ₹ 1,014.06 crore for 2016-17 in the last railway budget. Enhanced allocation for completing the much-delayed doubling works from Kayamkulam Junction to Ernakulam Junction via Kottayam and Alappuzha is expected in the budget.
Railways are also for more allocation as saturated lines on the Ernakulam- Thiruvananthapuram corridor and terminals are preventing them from introducing and extending more services.
The proposed coaching terminal on the railway land at Nemom may get a push as former Union Minister of State for Railways and veteran BJP leader O. Rajagopal has been elected from Nemom to the Assembly.
Officials say completion of doubling up to Ernakulam via Kottayam and Alappuzha and a coaching terminal at Nemom will decongest Thiruvananthapuram Central and give relief to commuters and the operations wing of Railways.
Only 71 km of tracks spread over seven corridors had been doubled in the State in the past five years. Delay in approval, land acquisition, and shortage of funds are the reasons for the slow pace of works.
In view of fissures on tracks and a couple of accidents, the officials are of the view that track renewal will get prominence in the budget. The doubling of electrified line from Thiruvananthapuram Central to Kanyakumari is also expected to figure in the budget.
Rail coach factory at Kanjikode, rail connectivity to Kannur and Nedumbaserrey airports, Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line, Thalaserry- Mysore connectivity, new coaches and rakes, and more passenger amenities are the other State hopes.
The formation of a joint venture company- Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd- between the State and Railways with a 51:49 equity partnership for cost-sharing of viable railway projects is also expected to reflect in the Wednesday’s budget to be presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
The 120-km Angamaly-Sabari rail project and a rapid rail transit system for the 125.65-km stretch between Thiruvananthapuram Central and Chengannur figure on top of the list. But, it is to be seen which all projects make it to the budget as Railways and the State had not been able to prioritise the projects.
