More passenger trains sought for Malabar region

The Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee members from the northern Kerala districts have expressed strong protest over the delay in considering passengers’ demand to sanction more local trains under the Palakkad division of the Southern Railway zone.

Two committee members who recently issued a joint statement citing the passengers’ complaints claimed that the Railway authorities were projecting the recent extension of a few existing local train services as a major achievement to ignore demand for new service.

The committee members-Ummer Ottummal and Abdul Rahman Vallikkunnu said the issues related to the cancellation of two passenger trains from Shoranur to Kozhikode after 4 p.m. had already been brought to the attention of the railways for action, but there were no positive responses. They pointed out that the delay in restoring those services actually disrupted the journey of regular passengers in the Malabar region.

Various local rail users’ associations also expressed disgruntlement over the “inordinate delay” in considering the passengers’ demands. According to them, there should be at-least one or two passenger trains from Shoranur to Kozhikode to address the actual needs of local passengers.

Meanwhile, Railway sources said the public complaints had already been brought to the attention of the higher authorities. They added that there were both technical and operational reasons behind the cancellation of passenger trains, which could be addressed in the near future.