KOLLAM: The Centre has not specified a completion timeline for the redevelopment of Kollam Junction under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, despite being asked to provide the project's physical and financial progress, percentage of completion and proposed date of completion in the Lok Sabha.
Replying to a question by Kollam MP N K Premachandran, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the redevelopment works at Kollam station are progressing at a good pace. He said the service building, multi-level car parking facility and parcel building have already been completed, while construction of the 12-metre-wide foot overbridge, air concourse, north terminal building, south terminal building and platform upgradation works is under way. However, the minister's reply did not indicate the percentage of work completed or when the project is expected to be commissioned.
Kollam Junction is the second busiest railway stations in Kerala in terms of trains handled per day, with an average footfall of 1.6 crore per annum which corresponds to nearly 47,000 footfalls daily. In order to handle the ever-increasing passenger volumes, Southern Railway has taken up the development project of Kollam Junction under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. The work was awarded as an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for an amount of Rs 361.18 crore in August 2022 with a completion period of 39 months. The completion period was November 2025 and yet the works are nowhere.
The minister said Kollam Junction is among the 35 railway stations in Kerala selected for redevelopment under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, which envisages phased modernisation with improved station access, wider foot overbridges, better waiting halls, passenger amenities, lifts and escalators, executive lounges, multimodal integration and enhanced facilities for Divyang passengers.
In the reply, it was also said that 11 road overbridge (ROB) and road underbridge (RUB) projects worth around Rs390 crore were under various stages of planning and execution in the Kollam Lok Sabha constituency. The proposed Rs 37.24-crore Kundara-Pallimukku ROB has received approval for its General Arrangement Drawing (GAD), while land acquisition is in progress. The widening of the existing ROB at Valacode on the Edamon-Punalur section is being taken up by the National Highways Authority of India, with preparation of the GAD under way.
The minister said station redevelopment and ROB projects are affected by factors including statutory clearances, utility shifting, land acquisition and the need to maintain train operations without disrupting passenger movement.
