Title - Passenger amenities get a boost in Palakkad division

MANGALORE: Passenger earnings of Palakkad division of southern railway has gone up by 8% in first four months of this fiscal to touch Rs 136 crore, up from Rs 126 crore in the corresponding period last year.

There has also been a resultant increase in number of passengers handled by the division at 263 lakh which is 6% increase over last year. The overall earnings during this period have been Rs 285.64 crore which is 0.50% more than the target given to the division.

The division's performance has been good in other earnings as well, noted Piyush Agarwal, divisional railway manager, Palakkad division . Delivering the 66th Independence Day address, Piyush said the division has achieved 2.314 million tonnes of originating load, an increase of 70.5%, comparing to previous year loading. The target fixed for the financial year is 5.915 million tonnes during June 2012; division has achieved 0.617 MT loading, highest ever.

The highest ever daily loading of 468 wagons was achieved on August 4. In all, 215 special trains were operated during the April to June 2012 in the division. Referring to safety related issues; Piyush said several safety inspections have been carried out. Seven safety seminars and three street plays have been conducted on safety of level crossings, including one at Mangalore Central Railway Station by students of Scouts and Guides from Palakkad division.

The process of setting a rail coach factory (RCF) at Kanjikode is on and 230.10 acres of land has been demarcated at site after joint inspection with Kerala state revenue authorities. The formal takeover of the land for RCF land will be done soon. The doubling work of Mangalore Junction - Nethravathi Bridge has been commissioned. Steps have been taken to screen 33000 cubic metres ballast and 23 km deep screening of track has been carried out to improve track.

Rehabilitation of three bridges has been done. Infrastructure improvement in freight train examination at Mangalore Junction has been done and an incinerator has been installed at Shoranur for effective disposal of garbage. Based on the performance of this at Shoranur, installation of incinerator at other stations is contemplated. Work on foot over bridge is under progress at Mangalore Central and Palghat stations and will be completed this year.