Title - 'Double tracks must for realising potential of MEMU services'

Though the newly announced two MEMU trains between Ernakulam and Kollam will provide immense relief to passengers on this route, Railway officials point out that the new trains will be fully utilised only if double-line track is installed in the section.“As of now, we have double line only till Mulanthuruthy, while not even a single kilometre stretch towards Alappuzha has been doubled.“We need double line track via Kottayam as well as Alappuzha, so as to make full use of the new trains. The Ernakulam-Haripad stretch (80 km) and the Ernakulam- Chengannur stretch (82 km ) needs to be doubled,” pointed out a senior official.The new MEMU trains will run via Kottayam and Alappuzha. “Passengers have already been making demands for more MEMU trains. With the new services being introduced, the woes of  passengers in this sector will be resolved to a great extent,” said K J Paul Manvettom, president of the All-Kerala Railway Users’ Association.

“We already have one MEMU train each via Kottayam and Alappuzha. As per the figures available with us, the number of passengers travelling on the Ernakulam-Kollam route comes to around 40,000 per day,” Paul said.Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal announced new trains for Kerala during a speech in the parliament on Wednesday.

Apart from the two MEMU trains, Kerala also got a new weekly train from Thiruvananthapuram to New Delhi. Also, the Thiruvananthapuram Jan Shatabdi Express has been extended to Kannur.

The Kochuveli Lokmanya Tilak Express will conduct services twice in a week while the Mangalore-Bangalore Express will run via Palakkad twice a week.