Title - Concern over underutilisation of rail corridor

Rajesh Agrawal, Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Railway Manager, has expressed serious concern over the gross underutilisation of the rail corridor linking the Vallarpadam transshipment terminal with Edappally. He was interacting with reporters here on Thursday.

He said now, only one train plied the railway link, exclusively meant for goods container traffic to and from ICTT, every week. This was mostly because goods transporters preferred to transport containers by road. The rail corridor could be put to optimum use only if at least three to five trains ply the route every day, he said.

(Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL) had constructed the dedicated track linking the terminal with Edappally station in record time. The track is underused as most containers are transported in lorries through congested highways.

This practice has derailed the Railway’s ambitious project to transport 10 million tonnes of cargo in five years’ time from the terminal and Kochi port.

The port had lost out to other ports in the South India, Mr. Agrawal said.

Aimed at ferrying more goods from the terminal and port through trains, railway engineers are engaged in restoring deserted tracks and wharfs of Kochi port.

“We hope to achieve some breakthrough in transporting goods from the adjacent Harbour Terminus railway station,” he said.