RailEnquiry

KOZHIKODE: The first zonal rail users consultative committee meeting of the Chennai railway zone is expected to address the long-pending demands of the commuters in Malabar.The meeting to be held in Chennai on Thursday will mainly consider the demands for extending Mangalore trains to Kozhikode, sanctioning additional trains, making Kozhikode station a railway station of international standard and converting technical stops into commercial stops.The members of the committee have already approached southern railway authorities in Chennai and submitted a memorandum on the projects that need to be urgently implemented in Malabar.The demand for operating the Kannur-Yeswanthpur Express via Mysore, the Yeswanthpur-Manglore Express via Arasikare and extending the Mumbai-Mangalore Matsya Gandha Express to Kozhikode is one its premier requirements.The committee also wants an additional train on the Kannur-Yeswanthpur route on account of the ban on night traffic through NH 212 imposed by Karnataka. In addition to this, the committee may seek more general coaches in all trains plying through Malabar.Upgrading of important stations is another of its demands. Though talks of Kozhikode station, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, being upgraded have been heard for long, no work towards this end has yet begun.The memorandum further states that atrocities against lady passengers and robberies had become regular incidents in trains.C E Chakkunni, a member of the users' committee, said he was optimistic about the railways solving the problems that passengers in Malabar region were facing.