Title - All railway level crossings to be manned: KC Venugopal

Alappuzha: Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, K.C.Venugopal said that all rail level crossings passing through the Alappuzha Parliamentary constituency would be manned soon.Talking to reporters here on Saturday, after chairing a meeting of railway authorities, Venugopal said that 101level crossings out of a total of 103 in the constituency had already been manned.“There are only two left and that too will be manned shortly. Underpasses will be constructed at ten level crossings. When that happens this will turn into a constituency with fully manned rail level crossings,” he said.Venugopal said that steps for acquiring the land for the rail wagon factory promised in the 2011 Union Railway budget would begin soon. The Railway authorities would hand over the letter related to land acquisition on Monday. “Land acquisition will begin urgently,” he said.

The Minister said that the State PWD officials told the meeting that the approach road to Alappuzha railway station at a cost of Rs 23 lakh and the one to Ambalappuzha railway station at a cost of Rs 13 lakh had been completed.The works of approach roads at a cost of Rs 18 lakh for Kayamkulam, Rs 25 lakh for Thuravoor and Rs 19 lakh for Karunagappally had started. The VIP lounge works at Alappuzha station had been completed, he added.

Of the works for the doubling of the railway line from Harippad to Ambalappuzha, and the modernisation of the Ambalappuzha railway station would be taken up initially. The Railway authorities in the State had sought more funds for platform extension in Ambalappuzha railway station.

The Minister said that the Railways had come up with the drawings of the Rail Over Bridge (ROB) in Ezhuppunna and similar works for the ROB at Krishnapuram would begin soon. The tender processes had been completed for the works of setting up escalators at Alappuzha Railway Station. “The works will start in two weeks,” he said.

The Minister instructed officials to look into providing a roof for the platforms at Kayamkulam railway station and the difficulties that passengers undergo because of only one platform at Ambalappuzha.

Railway Thiruvananthapuram Division Railway Manager, Rajesh Agrawal, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Denni Thomas, District collector, N.Padmakumar and Additional Divisional Magistrate (ADM), K.P. Thampy were also present at the meeting.