KOCHI: More than a year after the Railway Ministry’s announcement that the Ernakulam Junction would be made a world-class railway station, no progress has been made in this regard. Though it falls under A-class stations, the station lacks basic amenities for the passengers.
It lacks amenities like AC waiting rooms, proper toilets, waiting rooms for upper and sleeper-class passengers. Even there are no adequate number of stretchers and wheelchairs.
“For the past three years, whenever we complain about our needs to the authorities, we get the same reply - that the station is under renovation to attain world-class status. Recently there were reports that the Railways was not giving adequate importance to the renovation work and no paper work has been done in this regard,” said Southern Railways Mazdoor Union divisional president P Unnikrishnan.
The current renovation is part of the work which was sanctioned earlier. “The development of the station will be possible only with the active participation of politicians and the government,” he said.
The sixth platform at the railway station, which was recently inaugurated, does not have a roof or seating facility for the passengers. They have go to the first platform to access the waiting rooms and toilet facilities. Also there is no trolley facility to the sixth platform which is yet another problem for the physically- challenged passengers. The second flyover is also not completed. Unavailability of toilet facilities at the second, third, fourth and fifth platforms are also causing difficulties.
Interestingly, the Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station, another A-Class station in the state, has all facilities like AC and non-AC waiting rooms and ATM facilities.
“The waiting rooms and the seating arrangements are not up to the mark. The room should be more spacious. More number of fans should be installed and the faulty fans should be repaired. Only men are allowed to use the toilet in the waiting room for upper class and sleeper- class passengers. Women passengers at the upper class and sleeper class waiting rooms have to go to the second- class waiting room to use the toilets,” said Vinayak a passenger to Bhopal.
“There should be more LCD screens for display of train timings. The information should be clearly delivered for foreigners like us. Owing to lack of communication I missed the train today. The internet access facilities like cyber cafes should also be made available,” said Boris, a Portugal national.
“The sign board displayed in front of the Ladies’ waiting room is confusing. Many men enter the waiting room by mistake. As the platform got elevated, old people are finding it difficult to enter the waiting room from the elevated platform,” said Thankamma, a passenger from Thiruvananthapuram.
Another major drawback is the lack of stretchers and wheelchairs. There are only two stretchers and out of five wheelchairs only one is functional now. “The stretchers and the wheelchairs were sponsored by different organisations. The bad condition of the wheelchairs is the result of misuse by passengers. They fail to return the wheelchairs back to the office after using them. Sometimes passenger use these chairs to carry baggage,” said Deputy Station Manager P K Rajendran.
“It has been more than six months since we reported the damage of the wheelchairs to the sponsors but we have not got any reply from them,” he said. “The passengers can use the stretchers and wheelchairs just by contacting the station manager’s office,” he said.
