The long-awaited development work at the Thalassery railway station , one of the oldest railway stations in the State, are expected to get fresh impetus as local people pin their hopes on intervention of Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, a native of Thalassery, to expedite the work and ensure stops for more trains there.
According to people who campaign for the development of the Thalassery railway station, the station has been neglected by the authorities despite representations seeking stops for more trains and resumption of station development work. They say the station has higher potential for development as it is the closest to the Kannur International Airport.
Though the station had been built in 1901 and was now making a daily revenue of nearly ₹7 lakh, it is being neglected by Railways, says Raja Kurup, a retired bank employee, who is among the Thalassery residents engaged in lobbying for the development of the railway station. He says the station’s infrastructure development remains stalled and major trains passing through the route have no stop there despite the fact that the station is close to Wayanad and Kodagu (in Karnataka).
The non-stopping trains are Nizamuddin-Thiruvananthapuram-Nizamuddin Extpress, Samparkakranti Express, Madgaon Express, Amritsar Express, Porbandar Express, Dehradun Express, Indore Express, Jamnagar Express, Garib Rath Express, Dadar Express, Bikaner Express, Rajadhani Express, Marusagar Express, Hamsafar Express, Anthyodaya Express, and Duranto Express.
High footfall
According to railway officials, 11,500 unreserved tickets and over 1,500-2,000 reserved tickets are sold daily at the railway station. The number of actual passengers travelling from the station will be higher considering the passengers using mobile apps for booking and buying tickets, they say. The station still has platform portions without roof and lacks proper amenities, they inform. The passengers are facing inconvenience because there is only one reservation counter, they add.
Thalassery MLA A.N. Shamseer had submitted a memorandum to the then Railway Minister, highlighting infrastructural development at the station which has 42 acres of railway land, second only to Shoranur.
