Attempts to decongest town railway station hit

KOCHI: Attempts to decongest the Ernakulam Town railway station has once again been hit due to lack of planning and coordination of the Railway.It looks like the Railway is taking several years to complete the work on the 1-km stretch from Kathrikadavu to Pullepady on the proposed second line which would help speed up train traffic in the sector.The work which commenced on the second line some years ago is being executed in bits and pieces.  The Railway resumed the work just before the onset of monsoon. When the work picked up steam, the rain came in torrents forcing the contractor to stop work for the time being. However, chief engineer Jayakumar is satisfied that at least a little work has been completed and only the link work is left.According to the engineer further work is expected to begin after the rainy season ends which will go on till the commencement of the Sabarimala season during which the work will be suspended.Since the work  on linking of the rails will lead to disruption of traffic the Railway will be taking up the linking work after the Sabarimala season. The sufferers due to this reckless attitude are the passengers shuttling in the Ernakulam North-Kottayam sector as most of the time the trains are detained at different ends for a long time due to the absence of the second stretch. Meanwhile, people’s forum Karithala Poura Samithi general secretary Viju Choolackal said that the Railway was biased against the state and no steps were being taken to set things right. He said that the samithi had furnished the proof of diversion of funds allocated to the state for the delay.