Steps to overcome the constraints in areas of safety, speed, security, and service will be the focus of a meeting of top railway officials from the State to be chaired by Union Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda in Kochi on Thursday.
The discussion takes place against a backdrop of a meeting Mr. Gowda recently had in New Delhi with MPs from the State following the alleged neglect towards Kerala in his maiden budget.
All aspects related to the railway network in the State will come up at the meeting, which will be a thorough review of the projects sanctioned in the Railway Budgets over the years and the progress of the works, Railway sources told The Hindu .
This is the first comprehensive review meeting of the officials of the State after Mr. Gowda took over the reins of the Railways. Rakesh Mishra, General Manager, Southern Railway; Sunil Bajpai, Divisonal Railway Manager, Thiruvananthapuram; and Anand Prakash, Divisional Railway Manager, Palakkad; will make a presentation that will focus on nine key areas.
Progress of sanctioned works, safety-related works, speed of trains, cleanliness, catering, operating performance, earnings, safety performance for the last five years, and pre-departure constraints will be the core areas in the presentation. These areas form part of the 4S (Safety, Speed, Security, Service) Mission chalked out by Mr. Gowda for the Railways.
The meeting, which will commence at 11 a.m., will also discuss pending projects such as the coach factory at Kanjikode, wagon unit at Cherthala, doubling of the Ernakulam-Kayamkulam sector via Kottayam and Alappuzha, and terminal facilities at Kottayam and Nemom. The projects announced in this year’s Railway Budget for the State will also figure in the review meeting, the sources said.
Chief Administrative Officer, Dani Thomas; Additional Divisional Railway Managers of Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram Mohan Menon and P. Mahesh; and heads of various railway wings will attend.
Mr. Gowda is coming down to Kochi mainly for the mega launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.
