Title - No room for basic facilities at an 'A' class station

KANNUR: It is one of the most revenue generating railway stations in the state, with 'A'-class status. But when it comes to infrastructure development Thalassery railway station is way behind.

According to the railway officials and passengers, though the railway station has enough landed property, no serious effort is being made to develop basic infrastructure.

"The station has nearly 45 acres, where various developmental works can be carried out, including a yard so that some trains can start from here, but the authorities feign ignorance about it," said KRG Krishnan, a regular commuter.

"The then Union minister of state for railways KH Muniyappa, during his visit to Thalassery in September, had said that a food plaza would be opened at the station soon. Nothing has been done so far to set up a proper refreshment stall and passengers still depend on a tiny canteen where there is no seating arrangement," he said.

"We hope that the authorities would bring to the notice of Union minister for railways Pawan Kumar Bansal and state minister KJ Surya Prakash Reddy the pathetic condition of Thalassery station, during their visit to Kozhikode on Wednesday."

Such basic facilities are in place at 'B-class' stations like Kasaragod and Tirur. Probably this would be the only A-class station in the country, where there is no restaurant or refreshment room, said the passengers.

According to railway officials 5,000 to 7,000 tickets are sold from the station every day. "The station gets an average daily collection of Rs 5 lakh, which is one of the highest in the state. The revenue can be further increased if some more trains are given stop here. Nearly 13 trains do not have stop at the station," said Thalassery station manager MK Shailendran.

But the passengers feel that people's representatives fail to raise their voice in the parliament to get the fund released for such works. Also, according to some officials, the authorities never lend an ear to many demands pertaining to infrastructure.

"The well in the railway station compound would dry up by January end. The demand to dig another well is yet to get approval," said Shailendran.

The condition of toilet is no different. There is only one toilet each for men and women at the station, where thousands of passengers come every day. The existing toilets are in a filthy condition.