THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A solution to late running of daily trains in the state was one of the major demands that came up during a meeting of MPs convened by the Railways here on Wednesday. Kodikkunnil Suresh, MP, who raised the issue at the meeting said the late running of daily trains was posing a lot of hardship to commuters. Government employees, students and patients are unable to reach offices, educational institutions and hospitals due to inordinate delay of trains.
Thiruvananthapuram-Guruyavur Intercity, Vanchinad Express, Venad Express, Malabar Express, Memu trains and other passenger trains were notorious for late running, Kodikkunnil pointed out at the meeting. Delay in completing the doubling of tracks in Kayamkulam-Alappuzha-Kottayam-Ernakulam route under Thiruvananthapuram division also came in for sharp criticism at the meeting.
M K Raghavan, MP, complained of the unfair treatment being meted out to Palakkad railway division. The MP demanded new services in Kozhikode-Madurai-Bengaluru routes which got a favourable response from the Railways. The Railways also assured Raghavan that his demand to extend some of the existing services will also be considered. Speeding up the project to upgrade Kozhikode railway station to international standards and setting up a pit line at West Hill Station were the other demands that the MP raised at the meeting.
Other MPs from Kerala who participated in the meeting were P K Kunhalikutty, E T Mohammed Basheer, K Muraleedharan, Rajmohan Unnithan, Ramya Haridas, V K Sreekantan, K Sudhakaran, P V Abdul Wahab, A M Ariff, Adoor Prakash, Anto Antony, Benny Behanan, Hibi Eden, T N Prathapan, N K Premachandran, Thomas Chazhikadan and Binoy Viswom.
Rahul Jain, General Manager, Southern Railway, Principal Heads of Departments and Divisional Railway Managers of Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions attended the meeting on behalf of the Railways.