KOCHI: The slow pace of the redevelopment of the two major railway stations in the district — Ernakulam Junction and Ernakulam Town — is holding the district, especially the state’s commercial capital, to ransom. Things have been going wrong right from the start of the projects.
At first, it was Ernakulam Junction that got hit after the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, Bridge and Roof Company India Ltd, Kolkata, took an inordinately long time to complete the work. The project had to be retendered.
Now, the retender bug has bitten the Ernakulam Town redevelopment project too. The Southern Railway had awarded the redevelopment of Ernakulam Junction as an EPC contract to the Kolkata firm in July, 2022, at a cost of Rs 299.95 crore, setting a time frame of 24 months for completion. It has been four years, but the work continues to lag.
According to an RTI reply by the Railways, the approximate physical progress of the Ernakulam Junction station is 25%. “The targeted completion date as per the new contract is February 2028,” the Railways said in the RTI reply. According to Ramesh Mathew, a frequent commuter, the inordinate delay in the work has made using the Ernakulam Junction and Town railway stations as boarding points a big issue for the passengers.
“The major question that needs to be asked is why the Railway is not interested in expediting the redevelopment of the stations in a city that counts as the second-highest revenue-generating one among areas under the jurisdiction of the Southern Railway,” he said.
Highlighting how the dismantled stations have made navigating the complex alternative arrangements difficult, Ramesh said that a person coming to the Ernakulam Junction station gets lost trying to find the entrance and exit.
According to Ajas Vadakkedam, an executive member and a prominent voice of Friends on Rail, things have become a nightmare for passengers. “This isn’t just about the two major stations in Ernakulam. Work on the Amrit Bharat project has completely stopped at many stations. The Railways has failed to even prepare alternative facilities at the places demolished in the name of station renovation. There is no coordination in the work tendered, no proper supervision, and no time limit for the waiting of passengers who are suffering in the name of development,” he added.
Further, the RTI reply stated that the retendering process for the Ernakulam Town station redevelopment is still on. “The EPC agreement for the station was cancelled in June 2026 and the retender called. The project’s completion date cannot be ascertained since the work is in the tender stage. The tender has been called for the balance work at `156 crore,” the Southern Railway said in the RTI reply.
Monsoon delays railway stn work at Nedumbassery
Meanwhile. the Railways has blamed nature for the lag in the construction of the Nedumbassery station. The deadline for the much-touted station is June 30, 2027.