T’puram: The Thiruvananthapuram division is basing its major train maintenance facilities in Nagercoil instead of expanding Nemom and Thiruvananthapuram North (Kochuveli).Plans for pit lines at Nemom were scaled down from five to three to facilitate investment in Nagercoil.At a time when calls are growing to detach Nagercoil from Thiruvananthapuram, especially after Mangalore was moved out of Palakkad, the division will lose out on its ability to run express trains if Railways decides to take away Nagercoil.The plan to have five pitlines for train maintenance in Nemom has been reduced to three because the maintenance facility is being moved to Nagercoil. Many trains are being started from Nagercoil or Kanyakumari because there are no facilities to maintain trains in Thiruvananthapuram or Thiruvananthapuram North.Sources said that if Nagercoil is hived off and added to the Madurai division, Thiruvananthapuram will not have the facilities to operate trains. Although a Rs 450-crore redevelopment project is under way at Thiruvananthapuram Central, the Railways is not adding any tracks or pit lines.The Thiruvananthapuram North maintenance yard is available, but there are no plans to expand it, and any expansion could take time.A railway union official said that if Nagercoil is detached from Thiruvananthapuram and added to Madurai, Thiruvananthapuram will lose the ability to operate trains from its main railway station.The Railways is not adding more platforms at Thiruvananthapuram by removing the maintenance lines. Although Ernakulam has pit lines, they would not be adequate to handle trains originating from Thiruvananthapuram.
