Title - Fund crunch halts Ekm Jn’s upgradation plans

Kochi: The much-hyped plan to upgrade Ernakulam Junction to a world class railway station is yet to take wings as the railway board has not sanctioned funds. It was one among the three stations of the state that was promised a revamp by the railways.
    Though railway officials claimed that the blueprint is ready and they are in the process of preparing a plan, senior personnel were sceptical about its prospects.
    The board has already sanctioned Rs 10 crore for upgrading Thiruvananthapuram station.
    An official in Kochi said the blueprint envisages improving basic amenities such as retiring rooms, booking offices, waiting halls and paid AC lounge. The plan has provision to increase the number of AC lounges. It also envisages relocation of the parcel section and systematic organization of the prepaid auto and taxi stands for the convenience of passengers.
    Around 25 autorickshaws and 30 taxis can be parked at the railways station. This figure can be increased if parking is done in an organized fashion. The final plan will be sent to the southern railway headquarters in Chennai for approval. It will then forward the estimate to the board for authorization.
    However, additional divisional railway manager (Thiruvananthapuram division) V Rajeevan said: “Fund crunch has forced the board from granting its approval. The board has to take a decision in this regard since the plan was announced by the minister and taken up at the central level.”
    Officials said railways revised fares recently. The board faced this fund crunch as passenger fares were not hiked for the past ten years and hence it was incurring loss over the time.
    But he added that two escalators would be installed at the station. He revealed that a second tender was floated for this purpose as the first tender failed to attract bidders. “If we don’t get anyone from the state to carry out the work, we would appoint a company from some other state,” he said.The station’s daily passenger traffic is around 13000 and season ticket passengers total to 8,000.
A SOLID PLATFORM
Railways to file plan to upgrade South station Railways will improve the condition of retiring rooms, booking offices and waiting halls Station to have paid AC lounges
Parcel section to be relocated
Prepaid auto and taxi stands to be organized systematically
Plan will be sent to the southern railway headquarters in Chennai for approval
Chennai office will forward the estimate to railway board for authorization