Mangalore’s shift from Palakkad division
P. Karunakaran, MP, has called for strong protests against “moves to weaken the Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram railway divisions by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.” He said the Railway Ministry had adopted a “stepmotherly” attitude towards Kerala.
The governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and the Union Ministers from the two States were pressuring the Centre to carve out a new railway division, headquartered at Nagercoil, from the railway network up to Kanyakumari, which fell under the Thiruvananathapuram division, Mr. Karunakaran said in a statement here on Sunday. Likewise, concerted efforts were on to extend the jurisdiction of the Hubli-headquartered South Western Railway by merging Mangalore and areas up to the north Kerala border town of Manjeswaram, he said.
The move would threaten the existence of Palakkad division, which had already been weakened by the formation of the Salem division by annexing a vast stretch under the Palakkad division, he said.
The decision to truncate the Kannur-Yashvantpur Express into a five-coach rake to facilitate the split run of the train up to Karwar, and the move to take away reservation facility of the train in all its stations in Kerala were an insult to the State. Such moves were being made despite Kerala having eight members in the Union Cabinet, he said.
Coach factory
Similarly, the proposed coach factory in Palakkad and wagon unit at Cherthala remained only on paper and the long-standing demand for an exclusive railway zone for Kerala remained a distant dream.
Most of the passenger coaches running in Kerala were old compared to those in other States.
  • Says Railways are ignoring Kerala
  • Move for new Nagercoil-centred division flayed