'Malayalis contributing crores to Railway'; Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway station ranks fourth in list

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Southern Railway revenue figures for the last financial year are finally out. The list includes names of the top 100 stations that have contributed largely to the coffers. As big as 11 stations from Kerala have earned a place in the first 25 of the list. The revenue received from these 11 stations in Kerala is a whooping Rs 1500 crore.

Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station is ranked fourth in the list of the top 25. Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station has received Rs 262 crore as revenue during the financial year. Ernakulam Junction is at 6th position with Rs 227 crores, Kozhikode at 8th position with Rs 178 crores, Thrissur with Rs 155 crores at 9th position and Ernakulam Town at 13th position with Rs 129 crores.

Other stations in the top 25 are Palakkad Junction at 15th position with Rs 115 crore, Kannur at Rs 113 crore, Kollam Junction at 19th position with Rs 97 crore, Kottayam at 21st position with Rs 83 crore, Aluva at 22nd position with Rs 80 crore and Chengannur at Rs 25th position with Rs 61 crore. Despite the good revenue contribution, there is a widespread allegation about the Railways repeatedly ignoring Kerala from many grandiose projects.

Kerala has been neglected including sanctioning new trains and replacing existing obsolete ones. Even the track maintenance work in the state is moving at a snail's pace. The current high-speed trains allotted to the state could cruise at their best speed only if the corrections are made in track.