(The Hindu dt 1-10-2011)
The much-hyped conclave of Kerala leaders and Railway authorities, including the minister, in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday was a damp squib. The trumpeted gains of the meeting - the foundation-laying for coach factory at Palakkad and starting of three trains - are in reality only repetitions of earlier announcements, the only new dimension being fixing of the dates for them.
The conclave has failed to recognise the fundamental change happening in the railway use pattern in the state -- drastic hike in the share of intercity passengers compared to long distance travellers. The meeting also did not come out with any time-bound solutions to the burning infrastructural problems in the railway sector of the state, like doubling of tracks.
Passenger revenue has been registering a steady increase in the railway sector of Kerala in the last decade or so, and it currently accounts for a higher share than freight charges. This is a situation unique to Kerala whereas in other states' goods movement account for much higher revenue share than passenger ticket sales.
Even in Thiruvananthapuram Division passenger revenue was only Rs 186.21 crores in 2000-2001 while the goods movement contributed Rs 252.29 crores then. But in 2010-2011 the passenger revenue of the division shot up to Rs 584.95 crores while the goods movement generated an income of Rs 209 crores only. It is worth noting that this skyrocketing of passenger revenue was achieved without imposing any hike in fares.
Transportation of oil accounted for the lion’s share of the cargo revenue of the division, and the main reason for the slow pace of growth in the freight sector was the opening of the Kochi-Coimbatore-Karur (KCK) pipeline, about ten years back. The number of passengers in the division almost doubled from 51.9 million in 2000-2001 to 98.1 million in 2010-2011.
A major roadblock in the smooth passage of trains in Kerala is the absence automatic signalling system. There were no reports of any decision taken at the conclave on removing this hurdle, which leads to intermittent detentions and enormous delays of trains in the State. Many hoped that the Railway Minister would announce a time-frame for the completion of long-overdue track doubling work in Kerala. Train travel has become stifling experience in Kerala, particularly in stretches like Ernakulam-Kottayam because of the inordinate delays in track doubling.
Railways often site over-utilisation of tracks as a pretext to reject requests for the introduction of new trains. According to the railway officials the track utilisation has reached 121 per cent in Thrissur-Ernakulam section while it has reached 140 per cent in Ernakulam-Kottayam section. But passengers argue that the lop-sided time-tabling system leads to long gaps between trains.
Commuters bear the brunt
Traditionally railway was being perceived in Kerala as mode of inter-state travel. But this has changed drastically in the last decade or so. Now nearly 70 to 75 per cent of the passenger revenue generated in Thiruvananthapuram railway division is contributed by domestic passengers. But there was hardly any decision taken at the Thiruvanthapuram conclave to make their travel comfortable.
There are 58 daily express trains, 56 weekly trains, 18 biweekly trains, 30 triweekly trains, two tetra weekly trains and two penta- weekly trains from Trivandrum to different destinations. A huge majority of them are inter-state trains where the intra-state passengers, particularly the season ticket holders are being treated as illegal entrants and not as bona fide passengers.
The Railways' utter neglect of short distance passengers in Kerala becomes evident when it is noted that a MEMU service shed in Palakkad which had been made fully operational about six months back is remaining unutilised. The argument of the Railways is that the minister had announced commissioning of Kollam MEMU station first, and Palakkad unit cannot be put to use till the Kollam station become operational. The Thiruvananthapuram conclave totally missed the opportunity to take a decision on even a simple issue like launching of MEMU services from an already operational facility.
(Times of India dt 23-9-2011)
(Mangalam dt 21-9-2011)
(Mathrubhumi dt 21-9-2011)
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