'Kozhikode-Kannur railway line electrification to be over by Dec'

Palakkad Divisional Railway Manager Anand Prakash said the rail electrification work from Kozhikode to Kannur is being undertaken and is expected to be completed by December end and the electrification work of Kannur–Mangaluru section is also progressing rapidly.

Speaking at the Independence Day celebrations here, he said a crucial bottleneck at the interchanging point with Konkan Railway in Mangaluru area will be removed after the doubling of 19 km, Mangalore Junction–Panambur section. “This year six kms doubling work between Jokatte-Panambur will be taken up and is likely to be completed by March 2016,” he added.

“The division’s earnings during the first four months of the financial year was Rs 374.86 crore, of which Rs 207.57 crore accounted for passenger earnings, Rs145.68 crore towards goods earnings, Rs12.58 crore for other coaching earnings and Rs 9.03 crores towards sundry earnings. The Division carried 2.56 crore of passengers during the period from April to July this year and transported 2.49 million tonnes of goods during the period,” he added.

In Palakkad Division, during the first four months of this financial year, the Mail / Express trains have shown 86.4 per cent punctuality while the same for passenger train is 89.4 per cent. The realistic recording and monitoring of train movement adopted by the Ministry of Railways has a direct bearing on improving punctuality aspect in real terms.
Integrated security system installed at Kozhikode and Mangaluru Central stations helped the division to get a vital clue in eight criminal cases. Similar system of a limited version is being installed at Kannur station also.

Two passenger lifts at Palakkad Jn are ready for commissioning. The installation work of one escalator at Palakkad Junction and of two lifts and two escalators at Mangaluru Central are in progress. At Kannur, tender has been issued to instal two escalators action for installing two lifts at Kannur and Vadakara stations are in progress.

In the security field, a fine amounting to Rs 20,87,685 has been collected from offenders from April to July. Twenty five run away children have been traced and returned to their parents or child line activists during the year, he said. Division has taken up various passenger amenity projects worth Rs 37.51 crore while additional projects worth Rs 29.39 crore will be commenced this year.