The Railway has restored the post of Chief Engineer (North) of the Construction Wing at the office of Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) in Ernakulam, reportedly in the wake of concerns that shifting of the post to the Construction Wing in Chennai would slow down works to double tracks, laying of third track, and the redevelopment of major railway stations in Kerala.
The post of CE (North) had been shifted to Chennai earlier this month. With the CAO and the CE (South) set for retirement in June, there was a concern that the entire gamut of activities that were undertaken by the Construction Wing in Kerala to double the 69-km Ernakulam-Ambalapuzha track, to lay third track in the 107-km Ernakulam-Shoranur corridor and to redevelop prominent stations, would suffer a setback. There are already six CE posts in the Chennai office, it is learnt.
The commissioning of Kerala’s first Vande Bharat Express a fortnight ago by the Prime Minister had in addition given impetus to works undertaken by the Construction Wing in Kerala to straighten curves which abound in the State’s rail network. The Railway is striving to increase sectional speed of trains in Kerala from 80 kmph to 90 kmph, 90 kmph to 110 kmph and later to 130 kmph, in the near future. This would subsequently be increased to 160 kmph.
The Railway Ministry had earlier this year approved the estimate to double the saturated 23-km Ernakulam-Thuravur stretch in the single-line corridor that extended up to Ambalapuzha. The Ministry further sought speedy handing over of the requisite land by the State government, so that it could disburse the compensation.
Doubling of this corridor and laying of third track in the Ernakulam-Shoranur corridor are crucial to speed up train movement in Kerala and to introduce adequate number of MEMU trains linking Ernakulam with Kayamkulam and Shoranur, sources said.
