The Kollam railway station will be upgraded to global standards with facilities including a commercial complex and a railway training institute. The construction works will be directly handled by the Railway Construction Organisation to complete the project in a time-bound manner.
“Kollam is one among 21 stations in India selected to be developed as world-class stations and the construction is expected to be completed by December 2023,” said N.K. Premachandran, MP, on Tuesday. He had a meeting with top officials of Southern Railway in Chennai.
Though the Railway Land Development Authority was entrusted with the construction earlier, it was handed over to the Railway Construction Organisation for timely completion.
The General Manager, Southern Railway, has instructed officials to look into Mr.Premachandran’s proposal to turn the Chinese Palace building at the station into a railway museum.
While the second lift and escalator will be commissioned on November 15, all train services, including passenger trains, will be restored to their former schedule by December.
The officials will take immediate steps to solve the travel woes of train commuters including season ticket passengers. Meanwhile, the conversion of special trains into regular trains will depend on COVID-19 cases in the State and the Railway authorities have said it is difficult to convert trains in the current scenario due to the high positivity rate in Kerala.
Southern Railway will submit a recommendation to the Union Ministry of Railways for converting the Ernakulam-Kollam-Velankanni Express into a regular train and the issues related to the Pathimoonu Kannara bridge (13 arch bridge) will be addressed. While Kollam-Punalur electrification will be completed before March 31, the possibilities to start vistadome services will be probed. It was earlier announced that Kerala’s first vistadome coach will be attached to the Tambaram express, the service connecting Tambaram and Kollam through the Punalur-Shencottah rail route.
Prior to the Sabarimala pilgrimage season, facilities will be provided for the pilgrims at the Punalur railway station and the proposal to convert the station into a Sabarimala pilgrim station will be considered.
Facilities at the Mayyanad railway station will be fully restored and infrastructure development at the Paravur railway station will be carried out with the help of a special team. A special estimate will be prepared for the approach road adjacent to the Perinad underpass and the construction will be undertaken.
The meeting was attended by Southern Railway General Manager John Thomas, principal chief operations manager Neenu Ittyerah, chief administrative officer (construction) Prafulla Verma and additional general manager B.G. Mallya.
