Union budget: Kerala among states with least railway fund allocation

Thiruvananthapuram: Despite claims by the Railway Minister that the Centre has allotted a significant amount to Kerala for railway development, the latest Union Budget has given only a small portion to the South Indian state. According to budget figures, Kerala ranks third among the Indian states that received the least allotment for railways.

Ironically, the Centre claims to have given a substantial amount to Kerala by allotting a mere Rs 3,011 crore in the latest budget, while granting over Rs 15,000 crore to states such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The allotment for Kerala in the previous budget was Rs 2,033 crore. The allotments for the other southern states are: Karnataka Rs 7,559 crore; Tamil Nadu Rs 6,362 crore; Telangana Rs 5,336 crore; and Andhra Pradesh Rs 9,151 crore. Apart from doubling tracks, no major projects have been announced for Kerala.

Plight of railway projects in Kerala
The best example of the neglect meted out to Kerala by the Centre in railway development is the failure to commission even a single kilometre of track in the state for passenger trains during the last 30 years. In fact, the last passenger track to be commissioned in Kerala was between Thrissur and Guruvayur back in 1994. The only tracks laid in the subsequent years are the one to Vallarpadam terminal for the transport of goods trains and the uncommissioned seven-kilometre track from Angamaly to Kalady. During this period, passenger trains stopped conducting services between Ernakulam and Cochin Harbour Terminus.

The only significant announcement for Kerala in recent years is an approval given in February this year for a Rs 367-crore project to construct a new bridge at Shoranur to remove the bottleneck at the station and lay a second track from the station to Thrissur and Palakkad sides. Meanwhile, the budget was silent on Phase 4 of the Kochuveli master plan, even though the estimate was only Rs 40 crore. No significant allotment was given for the Angamaly-Erumeli track as the Kerala government has yet to inform the Centre whether it would share half the cost, and no major announcement was made on a third track between Ernakulam and Shoranur as the location survey has not been completed.

What Kerala received
The biggest allotment for railway development in Kerala in the Union Budget was Rs 1,085 crore for doubling tracks. Another Rs 100 crore was granted for the Angamaly-Sabarimala track, Rs 5 crore for the Ernakulam-Shoranur track tripling, and Rs 2 crore for the gauge conversion of the Kollam-Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur track.

The breakdown of allotments for track doubling is:

- Thuravoor-Ambalapuzha (Rs 500 crore)

- Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari (Rs 365 crore)

- Kumbalam-Thuravoor (Rs 102.5 crore)

- Ernakulam-Kumbalam (Rs 105 crore)

- Kuruppanthara-Chengannur (Rs 11.5 crore)

- Ambalapuzha-Haripad (Rs 1.2 crore)

Other allotments include Rs 300.19 crore for track modernization, Rs 1 crore for the Track Machine Satellite Depot in Kollam, Rs 47 lakh to the Thiruvananthapuram division to arrange facilities to accommodate longer trains in stations, and Rs 59 lakh to construct another foot over bridge in Aluva.

Money has also been set apart for building overbridges and underpasses, constructing tunnels, and upgrading the signalling system. The budget has allotted Rs 4.74 crore for constructing a new platform line at Mangaluru Central station in Karnataka, which is frequented by a large number of passengers from Kerala.