As adding of more platforms and pit lines are next to impossible at Ernakulam Junction and Town railway stations and the Railways yet to take a call on a coaching terminal at Ponnurunni, demand is rife to realise a coaching terminal sanctioned in 2011 at Kottayam. This will in turn help operate more trains from Kottayam.
Passengers, under the banner of the Kottayam Rail Users’ Forum, have been on the warpath demanding optimal usage of rail infrastructure and a pit line to augment train services from Kottayam.
In a memorandum sent a week ago to Union Railway Minister Aswini Vaishnaw, they cited the potential to operate more train services from Kottayam, especially in the wake of the completion of track doubling through the district. Among the demands is funds on a priority basis in the 2024 Budget to ensure speedy realisation of the Kottayam coaching terminal mentioned in the 2011 Railway Budget.
