Chirakkal railway station permanently closed from today

KANNUR: Chirakkal railway station, leaving behind 121 years of history, has been permanently closed. Although Kannur-Mangaluru passenger train stopped yesterday morning, the Kannur Cheruvathur passenger at 5.40 pm and the Mangalore-Kannur passenger at 8 pm passed the station without stopping.

Although the decision was supposed to come into effect from yesterday morning, the Kannur-Mangalore passenger was stopped in the morning after the final order from the Southern Railway was not obtained.

All the evening trains passed this station without stopping amidst protests by a group.

Meanwhile, a strong protest is being raised against the closure of the station. Chirakkal is a railway station with centuries of historical relics. Although a decision was taken to discontinue the stop allowed for passenger trains, in principle the station operations will come to a standstill.

K Sudhakaran MP, K V Sumesh MLA, BJP district leadership and others have approached the central government and railway authorities demanding that the decision to close Chirakkal railway station be withdrawn. A memorandum has been submitted to the Prime Minister and the railway minister in this regard. They demand to withdraw the decision, increase passenger convenience, and restore the stops of trains that were stopped at Chirakkal before Covid.