Title - MEMU service soon in Kollam-Nagercoil section

Work on maintenance shed in Kollam almost over Short distance train passengers in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and the adjoining Kanyakumary district in Tamil Nadu can look forward to hassle-free travel with Railways all set to commence the much awaited Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMU) service in the Kollam-Nagercoil-Kollam section.The decks for the introduction of MEMU service in the busy section have been cleared with Railways overcoming the main hurdle of completing the maintenance car shed in Kollam.The Southern Railway has already received the rakes for operating the MEMU services and only an official nod is needed from the zonal headquarters, according to a top railway official.The timings of the MEMU services in the section have been included in the railway time table that came into effect on July 1.The 66304/66305 Kollam-Nagercoil-Kollam Passenger MEMU will operate services six days a week. As per the schedule, the train will leave Kollam at 11 a.m. on all days except Sunday and will reach Nagercoil at 3.30 p.m. In the return direction, the train will leave Nagercoil at 4.50 p.m. and reach Kollam at 8.40 p.m.Although Railways had commenced the Kollam-Ernakulam-Kollam Passenger MEMU service, it could not commence MEMU service to the southern side as the maintenance shed was not ready.

Maintenance of the rakes used for operating the Kollam-Ernakulam-Kollam Passenger MEMU was being done at the maintenance shed in Palakkad. “The maintenance of the rakes of the new MEMU service will be done in Kollam,” the official said.

The estimate for the MEMU car shed was Rs.8.8 crore. There was no provision for the service building in the initial plan.

A sum of Rs.1 crore was allocated later for constructing the service building. The construction wing then sought another Rs.4 crore for completing the work. An official of the construction wing of Railways said the work of the maintenance shed was almost over and it was for the electrical wing to complete the remaining work.

The MEMU service is envisaged to cater to short distance commuters with the aim of weaning them away from long distance trains. These services were to replace passenger trains operating in the stretch. But, Railways have decided not to withdraw the passenger trains.