William Logan, then District Collector of Malabar under the Madras Presidency, gives a detailed account of railway connectivity in Kozhikode and neighbouring towns in his exhaustive tome, Malabar Manual .
It has information on the opening of the south-west branch of the Madras Railway, including the commissioning of the Beypore-Calicut railway line and the Calicut railway station on January 2, 1888.
Kerala’s first train chugged between Beypore and Tirur on March 12, 1861. Railway lines were opened between Tirur and Kuttippuram on May 1, 1861; between Kuttipuram and Pattambi on September 23, 1861, and between Pattambi and Podanur on April 14, 1862.
Then itself, Logan had pointed out that it was a mistake on the part of the railways to stop at Beypore which was only an insignificant fishing village. The line should have been brought to Calicut, the headquarters of the district, only seven miles away from the terminus. The average monthly arrival of passengers and goods at the Calicut railway station in 1888 was 34,980 and 3,610 tonnes respectively.
Things have certainly come a long way since then. The erstwhile Beypore station has been abandoned, and three new stations were opened at Kadalundi, Feroke, and Kallayi. But even today, Kozhikode railway station, considered to be the lifeline of Malabar, is crying for development.
The station, falling under Category A, caters to around 75,000 commuters during peak seasons. Malabar needs more trains as well as improvement in passenger amenities.
During its 125th anniversary seven years ago, the Ministry of Railways had proposed to upgrade the station into a world-class facility. However, the Kozhikode station was chosen among the 23 facilities only in 2016 and the only one in the State identified for the first phase of redevelopment under the Swiss Challenge Method.
Kozhikode is also one of the two stations, Chennai Central in the Southern Railway Zone being the other, suggested by Boston Consultancy Group for the first phase of development based on land parcels and yard plans.
The proposal is to develop the station with world-class facilities at an estimated cost of ₹75 crore. Four sites, measuring 4.4 acres, which have been identified, will be leased out to the successful bidder for 45 years. The project has remained on paper ever since the Vadakara-based Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society, the only bidder, proposed to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for the first phase in July 2018.
Clearances
The first phase itself has gone through multiple stages such as securing the approval of the Standing Technical Committee (STC) and Standing Finance Committee (SFC) before obtaining nod for preparing the DPR.
Last week M.K. Raghavan, Kozhikode MP, who is campaigning for the project, met Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi and Rail Land Development Authority Vice Chairman Ved Parkash Dudeja in New Delhi to apprise them of the situation.
The project can be taken to the second and final stages of the Swiss Challenge Method only after the DPR is released. Thereafter, it has to go through the process of bid submission, evaluation for the highest premium and development selection.
Rail connectivity does not end with the development of the station alone. The requirement of Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) train services is essential in the Mangaluru-Kozhikode-Shoranur sector. “Exclusive trains should run in the Kozhikode-Mangaluru, Kozhikode-Coimbatore and Kozhikode-Ernakulam sections,” Mr. Raghavan said.
An additional train service to Bengaluru is highly necessary following the ban on night traffic on the road passing through the Bandipur National Park. The establishment of a second terminal for Kozhikode either at Feroke or West Hill is another proposal, he said.
