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          Daily commuters in Thiruvananthapuram –Nagercoil section

 To,

       Dr. Sashi Tharoor,

       Honorable Member of Parliament,

       Thiruvananthapuram

Dear Sir, 

           I am representative of thousands of daily commuters in Thiruvananthapuram - Nagercoil route, putting a plea to make some immediate action into the following new changes are done by Railways with the change in timing notification of 2020, with will become into effect from May 1st, 2020.

     Details of the order

            No.T.454/VI/2019 Dt. 02.02.2020

: Speeding up of Train No. 16382/16381 CAPE-CSMT-CAPE Express and extension of Train No.56310/56315 Nagercoil –Thiruvananthapuram- Nagercoil Passenger to Kollam

Daily passengers are so glad to railway authorities for their both decisions. Because of the running time of Train No. 16382/16381 CAPE-CSMT-CAPE Express is too long and tourists in CAPE cannot catch the same train after the sunrise because now it leaves 6:40 from CAPE. But we have some concerns about the implementation of this. The major are the following:

1.       Train No.56310/56315 Nagercoil –Kollam- Nagercoil Passenger will not able to handle the passengers in Nagercoil –Thiruvananthapuram the sector as Passengers of two trains 56310 & 16381, which now runs in a gap of half an hour has to board the only one train 56310 Nagercoil –Kollam Passenger, because right now both these trains run in a heavy rush.

2.      Newly extended Train No.56310/56315 Nagercoil –Kollam- Nagercoil need to use MEMU rakes instead of the current rake of 22668/22667 CBE-NCJ-CBE Super Fast Exp, which consists of 1 SECOND AC coach, 1 THIRD AC coach, 9 SLEEPER CLASS coach and 3 General Coaches (AC coaches will remain closed) which is less spacious compared to normal passenger coach or MEMU coaches in which huge number of passengers can travel. Also, a minimum of general 12 to 15coaches need to be there in the newly extended Train No.56310/56315 Nagercoil –Kollam- Nagercoil passenger.

3.      Train No.56310/56315 Nagercoil –Kollam- Nagercoil Passenger needs to stop all local stations between Trivandrum Central and Kollam in both ward journeys. Doesn’t understand what railways mean by passenger trains and having the Express stops. Short distance passengers need to stick on Passenger trains and if passenger train skipping local stations then what is the use of Passenger train. This need to rectified and newly extended Train No.56310/56315 Nagercoil –Kollam- Nagercoil Passenger train need to stops at stations like Pettah, Veli, Kochuveli and all other stations of Thiruvananthapuram –Kollam Passenger. The Workers in various industries in the industrial belt along with Veli industrial estate, VSSC, Titanium, BRAHMOS, students in ALL SAINTS College, ITI Chakkai gets benefited from this.

Another the important thing is the Stoppage at Kochuveli, Thiruvananthapuram North which is the satellite station of Thiruvananthapuram central. If this passenger got a stoppage at Kochuveli; it will be a great boom to the passengers especially for the weekly trains starting after 9:00 from Kochuveli. More connectivity can be ensured between Kochuveli and Thiruvananthapuram central by this. Also, there is no hurry to reach Kollam, because no trains are just after Thiruvananthapuram central behind this passenger, also running time of Thiruvananthapuram –Kollam Passenger is two hours with all stoppage.

4.      After Train no 56700 MDU – PUU Punalur Pass from Nagercoil at 4:40 early morning, after the gap of two hours Train No.56310 Nagercoil –Kollam Passenger is the next train and as per new and current schedule at 6:30 and afterward, train to Thiruvananthapuram is Train No.56318 Nagercoil –Kochuveli Passenger at 7:45 around another one hours later, this should create panic and heavy rush in available train and buses along the whole Nagercoil – Thiruvananthapuram route in the morning. So kindly introduce new Express train from Kanyakumari with current timetable and Stoppage of current 16282 up to Kottayam or Alleppey or Ernakulam helping those large numbers of daily commuters. Also please note that once Train No. 17229 Thiruvananthapuram - Hyderabad leaves Thiruvananthapuram central at 7:00; the next train towards northwards(Kollam) is at 9:30(Train No.16343 TVC-LTT Netravathi Express), a two and half hours long gap in the morning heavy rush hour which is hectic for daily commuters traveling from state capital towards north.

(In September 2014 when Train No 56715/56716 Kanyakumari – Punalur –Kanyakumari passenger(announced in the interim rail budget of 2014) was introduced in such a manner that the train will start from Kanyakumari in the current schedule of Train No. 16382 CAPE-CSMT Express in the morning and returns in the evening, but then strong political pressure from Chairman of MPs of Trivandrum Division just reversed it making it Punalur –Kanyakumari- Punalur passenger favoring morning commuters towards Trivandrum and holding change of timing and speeding up of Train No. 16382/16381 CAPE-CSMT-CAPE then)

The above are the major issues related to the extension of Train No.56310/56315 and change of schedule Train No. 16382/16381which will upset the daily journey facilities of all commuters in the two districts of Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari needs your immediate attention and intervention.

In this course, it is not good if we miss our two other major needs which we are trying for years

 1. Stoppage for Train No.16649 Mangalore - Nagercoil Parasuram Express at Dhanuvachapuram for 1 min.

         Dhanuvachapuram is in the heart of Parassala & Neyyattinkara constituencies. People from coastal belts starting from Pozhiyoor and eastern hilly area like Amboori can easily reach this station geographically & current road conditions. Also, Train No. 16649 MAQ-NCJ, Mangalore- Nagercoil Parasuram Express only trains between 18:00 and 20:30 from Thiruvananthapuram towards Nagercoil, which leaves Thiruvananthapuram at 19:05. It was heard that the stoppage at Dhanuvachapuram is already approved by railway authorities and a plea from our MP will make its way. Also, the widening of Karamana-Kaliakkavilai road is indefinitely delayed and very slow-moving traffic in this stretch causing daily commuters to spoil their valuable hours in the road. We are sure that this will be helping hundreds of daily passengers. 

2. Stoppage for Train No .56700/56701 MDU-PUU-MDU, Madurai –Punalur- Madurai passenger in all stations in Neyyattinkara Taluk.

                Train No 56700 is the first passenger train towards Thiruvananthapuram from Nagercoil which leaves NCJ, Nagercoil station at 4:40. In the journey between Nagercoil and Punalur, this train skips only 4 stations and all these stations are in Neyyattinkara taluk. The stations are Dhanuvachapuram, Amaravila, Balaramapuram, and Nemom. If the stoppage is allotted to these stations, it will help hundreds of early morning daily commuters who need to reach Thiruvananthapuram before 7:00.

    In the downward journey Train No 56701 PUU –MDU Madurai passenger also skips  two stations in Neyyattinkara Taluk. The stations are Nemom and Amaravila. All other stations from Punalur up to Nagercoil stoppage are there. Please take necessary steps to avail stoppage for both 56700/56701 Madurai-Punalur-Madurai Passenger in all stations in the Neyyattinkara Taluk.

Hoping that you will put all your efforts and stood firm with us to reduce the trouble in our daily to and fro journey to reach our capital city and back home in time.

Thanking you again 

Yours faithfully,

Rajith.S.S