Title - | Railway zone is the only answer to Kerala's woes

Thiruvananthapuram: Barely a few days left for the presentation of budget 2013-14, the call for the long-standing demand of an independent railway zone has been revived in the state. Kerala has been raising this demand for a long time. The demand has strengthened since Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments tried to split Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions and look Kerala's rail lean.

Currently there are 16 railway zones in India. Kerala belongs to the fifth zone, the Southern Railway with its headquarters in Chennai.

The state has got solid reasons to demand for an independent zone.  

Kerala is the only Indian state having a major place in rail map of India without a zone headquartered in its territory. The advantages of having a zone for the state are many. If we have a zone of our own, the state's projects and new train services will come directly from the Centre, which his now coming through of the Southern Railway head office in Chennai. Leave alone major projects, even for its routine expenses, the state is at the mercy of the Chennai office, whose priority is Tamil Nadu.

With a major chunk of railway's revenue coming from Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions, Kerala is among the states which contribute more to the railways. The income for the Railways through goods transportation to Mangalore and Kochi sea ports is considerably high. This has happened in spite of  railway investments falling sharply in Kerala.

Though Kerala had raised this demand for independent zone several times in the past,  Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments stood on its way for a fair deal to Kerala. Minister Aryadan Muhammed said that state will not allow this to happen in future. He says  that our dream zone will be materialized, if the ministers and MPs from Kerala try their best. It seems that without political pressure the state will continue to be neglected by the Railway ministry.