After a two-year long delay, the project to develop Ernakulam Junction under the 'World Class Station scheme' has received a fresh lease of life. Southern Railway (SR) has formed three committees to speed up the development process and according official sources, the committees have already started working on a draft inception report, one of the preliminary steps before the project initiation.
Ernakulam Junction was included under the scheme in the 2010-11 railway budget, but continued to be on paper for the last two years.
"The station development under the scheme is a mega project that requires substantial planning. Our initial studies found that earmarking funds through the ordinary means is not practical in the case of Ernakulam, since expenditure is huge. The present financial crunch that railway ministry is going through will prevent the possibility of a huge fund allocation from the railway ministry. So the authorities are considering a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement. Once the ministry is convinced about the PPP, we are confident that they will allot half the amount required for the project," said a senior official of Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Office,SR. The Division has not yet drawn up an estimate on the cost. "The concept is to modernise our stations so that even a foreign traveller would feel at home. The focus will be on cleanliness of premises, provision of quality drinking water and food, spacious restrooms, streamlining of station space for efficient passenger movement, larger parking lots, and improvised security," the official said.
At the moment a passenger arriving at Ernakulam Junction will have to get satisfied with minimum facilities. The station lacks AC waiting rooms, clean drinking water, hygienic toilets and economic food outlets. Passengers who travel in the upper classes say that Thiruvananthapuram Central is the only station in Kerala which meets most of the passenger requirements and are surprised at Ernakulam Junction's condition, considering the city being the business capital.
P Krishnakumar, a regular traveller and general secretary of Thrissur railway passengers association said touchscreen kiosks where information like status of running trains and details regarding PNR status and seat availability create frequent snarls due to railway not renewing the annual contract with the hardware supplier. "Jan Ahar stall, the economic food outlet is not popular among passengers as most items in the menu are not available. The existing waiting rooms are small and congested with no option for mobile or laptop charging", he said.
