Thiruvananthapuram: With the separation of the area from Ullal to Mangaluru and its addition to Mysuru division, Palakkad railway division will lose a coaching yard and suffer a major loss in passenger and freight revenue.The move means there is uncertainty on the future of many trains to Thiruvananthapuram, including Vande Bharat Express and Parasuram Express, as to where the rakes will be maintained as the railway board order on hiving off the area from Ullal to Mangaluru amounting to around 60km from Palakkad railway division mentions only staff deployment.The pit lines in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam are full and Palakkad railway division does not have a place to maintain the trains. The hiving off of Mangaluru will cripple the ability of Palakkad to operate trains. It will remain a division that will handle only passing-by services.A railway official said that around 60km of route will be taken away from the division and it will stand to lose freight revenue from moving goods by rail to Mangaluru port. “Train maintenance may remain at Mangaluru but then how long it can be handled like that is difficult to say because the South Western Railway may have to prioritise trains of their zone and not for Southern Railway,” he said. The board will decide on maintenance of trains and allocation of staff, etc., he added.Many trains headed to the south of Kerala are maintained in Mangaluru and people of Malabar depend on Mangaluru for train and air travel. If South Western Railway cannot maintain trains run into Kerala, it will pose difficulties unless the state govt offers land to develop coaching and train maintenance yards in Kannur or Kasaragod.Krishnakumar P of Thrissur Rail Passenger Association said that for train passengers in Kerala, which zone or division a route belongs to is largely irrelevant. “Even though Mangaluru had long been part of the Palakkad division, the nearly empty Goa–Mangaluru Vande Bharat could not be extended to Kozhikode or Kannur. Likewise, the Coimbatore–Bengaluru Vande Bharat and the Uday Express could not be extended to Palakkad,” he said.He also said, “The existing arrangement for train maintenance and operations may continue, but the next demand is that we push for a third and fourth line. Why did the Railways not invest in terminals and pit lines in Kannur or Kasaragod, while investing in Mangaluru?”
