Title - RAILWAY BUDGET FOR THIRUVANANTHAPURAM | Shashi Tharoor

Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Member of Parliament, Thiruvananthapuram has urged Railway Minister Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal and the Railway administration to make adequate provisions and incorporate necessary steps in the forthcoming Railway Budget, 2013-14 to ensure early completion of all ongoing projects with respect to development of infrastructure, facilities and passenger amenities in respect of Thiruvananthapuram parliamentary constituency.

Dr. Tharoor made this request in a letter which was personally handed over by him to the Railway Minister Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal a few days ago at New Delhi. Dr. Tharoor also simultaneously  sent a similar letter to Shri Vinay Mittal, Chairman, Railway Board  stressing the need for the completion of all projects and schemes introduced through the previous budgets of the recent past and for making the necessary announcements in the forthcoming budget on the remaining issues pertaining to the holistic development of the Railways and its efficient functioning with respect to the needs of the travelling public and overall economic development of Thiruvananthapuram.

In his letter, Dr. Tharoor pointed out that the three Railway Budgets of the present UPA-II Government (2009-10-, 2010-11 & 2011-12) had by and large taken due cognizance of this fact and a number of measures have been undertaken by the local Railway Divisional apparatus for the holistic and long-term development of much-needed infrastructure and facilities. However,  Dr. Tharoor also pointed out to the Railway Minister that he (the Railway Minister) would at the same time agree that  the important thing now is to carry forward all these initiatives to their complete fruition. The Thiruvananthapuram Division is one of the profit generating divisions of the Railways and no additional measure or effort to improve matters here can result in anything but increase in the overall good of the organisation as a whole, he said. 

Dr. Tharoor, whose dogged personal efforts  with the highest levels of the Railway administration during the past three years resulted in significant gains for Thiruvanathapuram constituency on all fronts of Railway development invited particular  attention to the following items which required to be addressed and provided for  in the forthcoming Budget, 2013-14 :-

 

1.      Budgetary and administrative support for timely completion of works for development of infrastructure, facilities and passenger amenities at Thiruvanathapuram Central Station for raising it to international standards

 2.      Development of Kochuveli and Nemom Stations as functional extensions of Thiruvananthapuram Central Station, renaming them as Thiruvanathapuram South and Thiruvananthapuram North respectively. More funds to be allotted for developing passenger amenities and facilities at Kochuveli Station and development of Nemom as a Coach Maintenance Hub of the Division.

 3.      Taking of concrete steps for the setting up of the Railway Medical College  in Thiruvananthapuram  announced in the Budget of 2009-10. This is a proposal which was widely welcomed by my constituents and there is an urgent need to take concrete steps for implementing the proposal.

 4.      Sufficient funds to be allotted for the track doubling works in the Thuiruvananthapuram –Kanyakumari sector.

5.      Electrification works in the Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari sector to be speeded up for early completion of electrification in the entire stretch.

 6.      Development of Kazhakuttam station, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology,  befitting its status as the service station for the internationally-acclaimed IT Technopark campus which is developing by leaps and bounds. As an immediate step,  Kazhakuttam may be upgraded to ‘Adarsh ‘ Station status.

 7.      Provision of much-need new coaches for rakes of all trains originating from Thiruvananthapuram Division. There has been a huge public outcry on the condition of coaches of most of the passenger trains and this is one area which cannot be ignored any further. This includes running of the Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai Duronto Express with LHB Rajdhani type coaches instead of ordinary coaches.

 8.      Introduction of onboard house keeping services in the prestigious Kerala and Mumbai Express trains.

 9.      Mechanised Laudry Service at Thiruvananthapuram Central

  New Trains and extension/increase in frequency of existing services

New Trains

1.   A new Bharath Tirth Train (Bhopal-Tirupathi-Kanchipuram-Rameshwaram-Madurai-Kanyakumari-Thiruivananthapuram-Kochi)

2.      A new Mumbai-Thiruvananthapuram Duronto train.

3. A new Janma Bhoomi Gaurav Train (Chennai-Puducherry-Trichy-Madurai-Kanyakumari-Thiruuvananthapuram-Ernakulam

Extension of Trains

1.      Kollam-Madurai Passenger to Nagapattinam OR a new connecting passenger service from Madurai to Nagapattinam for the Kollam-Madurai passenger.

2.      Pune-Ernakulam Express to Thiruvananthapuram

3.      Coimbatore-Nagercoil Express to Thiruvananthapuram

4.      Kakinada-Kollam Express to Thiruuvananthapuram

Increase in Frequency

1.      Nagercoil-Gandhidham Express

2.      Thirivananthapuram-Shalimar Express

3.      Thiruvananthapuram-Guwahati Express

4.      Thiruvananthapuram-Nizamuddin Express

5.      Kanyakumari-Dibrugarh Vivek Express

  Additional stoppages at Kazhakutam station

 

  1.       Of  all long-distance trains originating and terminating at Kochuveli station.

  2.       Of as many trains as possible on the Thiruvananthapuram-Ernakulam route, and especially for the  following trains:-

(i)                 T.No.16304 Tvm-Ernakulam Vanchinad Express

(ii)              T.No.16303 Ernakulam-Tvm Vanchinad Express

(iii)            T.No.16630 Tvm-Mangalore Malabar Express

(iv)            T.No.16629 Mangalore-Tvm  Malabar Express

(v)               T.No.12697 Tvm-Chennai Express

(vi)            T.No.12696 Chennai-Tvm Express

 

 

New line

1.      Erumeli-Punaloor-Thiruvananthapuram

2.      Line survey of Balaramapuram-Vizhinjam-Thiruvananthapuram-Chenganoor line.

Miscellaneous

1.      A  new Railway Zone headquarted in Thiruvananthapuram keeping in view the development poissibilities of the southern-most areas of the peninsula.

2..      Wi-Fi Internet facilities on Tvm-Nizammudin Rajdhani Express

Special mention made in respect of Kazhakuttam, Railway Station

Dr. Tharoor also specially took up with the Minister of Railways and the Chairman, Railway Board the case of development of Kazhakuttam Railway Station. Drawing attention to the special position that Kazhakuttam Railway station occupied in the future scheme of things for Thiruvananthapuram Dr. Tharoor pointed out that Thiruvananthapuram city has two arrival/departure terminals, the main one at Thiruvananthapuram Central, Thampanoor and the other one at Kochu Veli . Kazhakuttam station is situated on the main line North of these two stations. Kazhakuttam is the station servicing the internationally-acclaimed and still growing IT hub of Technopark used by thousands of IT professionals who commute to their offices on daily basis from areas north of Thiruvananthapuram city. There can be considerable saving in time and up and down distance for these professionals if even short stoppages are allowed for all major trains on the route. It will also considerably ease congestion in the already saturated premises of Thiruvanathapuram Central. In this connection, he requested that the following additional stops may be provided at Kazhakuttam

 

Additionally, he mentioned that Kazhakuttam railway station deserves to be treated as a special case given its connection with the adjoining Technopark Complex which currentlyemploys close to 20,000 highly qualified IT professionals. The station has the potential to be developed in collaboration with the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT . There is a need for enhancement of various facilities including the urgent need for the construction of fully covered platforms,  a foot overbridge as well as road overbridge and provision for passenger reservation facilities, including issue of monthly passes. The station could also be renamed as  Thiruvananthapuram Technopark station.