Title - KERALA : Railways asked to speed up doubling work

Union Minister of State for Power K.C. Venugopal has instructed the Railway officials to complete the doubling works of the Haripad-Ambalapuzha stretch in the Kayamkulam-Ernakulam railway line by January 2014.The Minister, who is also the MP from Alappuzha Parliamentary constituency, was presiding over a meeting convened here on Saturday to discuss the problems related to rail development in his constituency. A monitoring committee with the district collector as chairman will oversee the land acquisition and related issues including availability of sand for the doubling works. This committee will have to meet every month.The authorities have been asked to contact the Pathanamthitta district collector to obtain sand and take urgent steps. He came down heavily on what he termed as the “slow pace” of the Railway officials in carrying out the doubling works. The Minister said that the Railways should accord priority to total doubling of the Ernakulam-Kayamkulam railway line and the safety of passengers. The land acquisition on the Kumbalam-Thuravur area should be completed within a year. It was noted that the travel from Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam via Alappuzha will take only two hours as a result of doubling of the route. The meeting was told that a total of 20 gatekeepers were appointed at level crossings in the Alappuzha Parliamentary constituency.

The Centre has given the green signal for level crossings at Ezhupunna, Kayamkulam and Cheravalli. The Minister said that special consideration will be accorded to railway stations at Thuravur, Aroor and Ambalapuzha. The Alappuzha railway station will be modernised, taking into account the presence of tourists. District Collector V. Ratheeshan, Divisional Railway Manager Rajesh Aggarwal and chief administrative officer, Railways, Dani Thomas, were among those who attended the meeting.