PALAKKAD: The first maintenance shed in the state for operating the suburban Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) train services at Akathethara, near here, will be commissioned on January 1. The total cost of the project is around `6 crore. The Railways had sanctioned two MEMU maintenance units in the state, one at Palakkad and the other at Kollam. The work on the Kollam MEMU train maintenance facility at a cost of `7 crore is proceeding and will be completed within a few months.
A sum of `5.52 crore had been allocated in the Railway budget of 2009 for the MEMU maintenance facilities in the Kollam railway station and `2.54 crore for the Palakkad station. A separate railway line has also been laid connecting the MEMU shed with the main railway line. The services now running in this section use the Erode maintenance facility. The rake plying between Shoranur and Coimbatore does not operate on Sundays. The rake is taken to Erode every weekend for maintenance.
Now, with the commissioning of the maintenance facility at Palakkad, the rake can be maintained here itself. It is proposed to maintain two rakes in the Palakkad maintenance facility. One will be the Shoranur-Coimbatore train and the other will be the MEMU train service operating between Coimbatore and Erode.
The facility at Palakkad has a capacity to maintain a total of eight rakes.
The MEMU train services can meet the growing commuter requirements, especially the short-distance commuters.
The MEMU has fast acceleration and better braking capability with electric pneumatic brakes compared to the normal conventional coaches.