KOCHI: Dinesh Trivedi’s debut rail budget turned out to be highly disappointing for Kochi. The new MEMU (Mainline Electrical Multiple Units) service to be introduced between Ernakulam and Thrissur, one of the eight MEMUs announced by the Minister, remains the only attraction for Kochiites in the budget. The budget proposes survey for a new railway line between Edappally and Guruvayoor. It will be one of the 111 new line surveys to be taken up in 2012-13. Angamaly-Kalady stretch has been included in the list of new line projects targeted for completion by this year. But, the rail budget has completely ignored the city. A couple of long-time promises including uplift of the Ernakulam South Railway Station to international standards, setting up of multi-purpose complex at Ernakulam North Railway station and developing the old railway station near the High Court have been completely ignored in the present budget. “A new Memu service has been announced. But the Ernakulam-Kollam Memu which was included in the last budget is yet to be operational. There were no attempts to utilise the potential of the two Memu yards in Kollam and Palakkad. We have been asking to develop the old railway station near the High Court and convert it into a suburban hub. However, no such initiatives were proposed,” P Rajeev MP said.The declaration regarding the modernisation of Ernakulam South Railway Station has been in the air for some time. “Even the tender proceedings began some two years ago, then nothing materialised. Later, it was declared that the station would be modernised to world-class standards. They remained as promises,” Rajeev added. The rail budget has not addressed the long-pending demand of Ernakulam-Kayamkulam doubling work. Similarly, for some time now, there were demands for a daily Express train to Bangalore. Instead the Bangalore-Kochuveli Express has been made a daily train from thrice a week. The Angamaly-Sabari rail line has also not been included in this year’s budget. Though an amount of `32 crore has been allocated for the purpose, the project didn’t take off till now.
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