Title - Uncertainty over Shoranur rail doubling work

KOCHI: The railway's decision to indefinitely postpone the doubling of the five-km Shoranur-Karakkad stretch on the Shoranur-Mangalore track has raised doubts about the possibility of the work getting completed in the near future.The doubling work of the over 300-km Shoranur-Mangalore track had begun in 1995, and the line was commissioned up to Karakkad last year after considerable delays. Only the Shoranur-Karakkad stretch on the line remains to be doubled and trains from both sides are now being detained, for even 30-40 minutes at times, here.The railways has postponed the work, citing "unforeseen technical problems faced during the field test." Palakkad additional divisional railway manager Mohan Menon claims that the doubling work of the stretch would be an engineering marvel, considering that it involves the construction of a yard and a new platform. "There are about 261 signal points in that stretch, and all of them will have to be delinked from the existing digital network and converted into manual operations during this doubling work. Any mistake could lead to major accidents and we don't want to take any such risk," he says.
In the meantime, passenger associations attribute the delay to inter-departmental rivalries to the influence of caterers who mint business from trains detained at the stations. "The passengers are not getting the benefits of the Mangalore-Karakkad doubling because of the delay in completion of work on this stretch. It is hard to believe that the Railways, which has achieved major technical feats like construction of long tunnels to Kashmir and longest bridge at Vallarpadam, is unable to resolve the technical issues," says P Krishnakumar, general secretary of the Thrissur Railway Passenger Association.
"We've heard such allegations. It is true that the doubling work has been delayed and numerous stories are in circulation about it. We are not focusing on the past now but are getting ready to meet the challenges involved," Menon says.
The work was informally proposed to begin around March 15, and instructions had gone out to block ticket bookings for several trains passing through the stretch. It was also officially announced last week that the non-interlocked working, a prelude to the completion of the doubling work, will begin on April 4.
The Railways had also issued a detailed list of trains that could be affected by the work lasting over three weeks. Hundreds of passengers had cancelled tickets and made alternative travel plans for holidays. The change in plan has forced them to scramble for tickets now.