Vande Bharat will stop at Chengannur, Shoranur also: Kerala MPs

Shoranur: Following political pressure, the Railways is considering a proposal to allow stops for the Kerala Vande Bharat Express at Shoranur Junction and Chengannur also. Members of Parliament from Kerala Kodikunnil Suresh and V K Sreekandan said that the technical wing of the Railways also has no objections to stopping the prestigious train at these two stations.

A technical report has said that two-minute stops at Shoranur and Chengannur would not significantly affect the train’s total running time.

A stop at Chengannur is preferred as it is the most ideal station for Sabarimala pilgrims.

Meanwhile, Vande Bharat is likely to stop at Shoranur also as the station is the most important railway junction in Kerala. Moreover, during the trial run, the Vande Bharat could pass from Painkulam railway gate, which is the border of Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad railway divisions, to Karakkad station immediately after Shoranur at a mere 15 kmph owing to technical reasons. All trains can cover this distance at such slow speeds only, particularly on a 1.5 km- stretch near Shoranur station, which is still a single track.

Earlier, the Railways had announced a ‘Remodelling project’ for Shoranur station in order to resolve these technical issues, but it could not be implemented.

At the same time, another internal report of the Railways has pointed out that daily ticket collections for Vande Bharat from Shoranur station will not touch Rs 25,000.

Meanwhile, the Railways conducted a feasibility study on Tuesday to extend the service from Kannur to Kasaragod and launched a trial run along the route on Wednesday.