Title - Call for more passenger trains in Kerala

Kottayam: Local commuters who virtually live on trains have made a strong demand for sanctioning more passenger trains as a solution to their daily struggle. The season ticket travelers, who constitute a large chunk of commuters in Kerala, are now heavily dependent on Express trains, but a recent High Court order prohibiting their entry in reserved coaches, turned out to be a big blow on them.Passengers are forced to find space even in toilets during the peak hours. The story is not different in almost all passenger trains running through Kerala.  Passengers say their commutation problems will end only if the frequency of trains are increased.  However, commencement of new services connecting various stations is possible only if the  number of passenger terminals also increase. Funds have not been allotted even for terminals in Kottayam and Nemom which were proposed in the Rail Budget a few years ago. Passengers say that these two terminals must start functioning soon and more terminals must be allocated in Malabar region too

The trains announced in last budget should be flagged off without delay. Citing shortage of rakes as a reason, Railway has not begun Ernakulam -Thrissur MEMU which was announced in the last year's budget.