Kerala’s priorities for rail budget off track: Experts
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The state government’s proposals submitted to the centre, seeking inclusion in the Railway Budget to be presented on Wednesday, have their priorities all mixed up, according to experts.
Former railway board member M.N. Prasad told this newspaper that the state has accorded top priority to the demand for a peninsular railway zone. But even if a railway zone is allotted to the state, it will not have any impact on the overall development of railways in Kerala, he said.
Instead, the state should have pushed for work on track doubling, electrification and gauge conversion, he pointed out.
According to Mr Prasad, many trains already allotted to the state cannot start due to lack of maintenance facilities, while the track network is inadequate to handle the present capacity of train traffic.
He said the state should have accorded priority on acquiring land for new tracks instead of seeking new trains. Doubling the remaining part of the Kottayam tracks and doubling the Alappuzha line should also have been up on the list of demands, he said.
Another issue that needed immediate attention was gauge conversion of Palakkad-Pollachi stretch and Kollam-Shengottai line.
According to Mr Prasad, even the longstanding demand for tracks to be laid till Sabari has not yet been fulfilled.
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