Halting Vande Bharat for Palaruvi: Experts suggest using buffer time to avoid passenger inconvenience

Kochi: A few days ago, rail passengers staged protests at the Ernakulam North railway station after the Palaruvi Express was halted, longer than scheduled, to allow the Vande Bharat train to pass. Now, experts suggest that such inconvenience and delays could be avoided by taking advantage of the buffer time, reports Manorama Online. It could be done by rescheduling the buffer time allotted to Palaruvi Express in Kollam, Kottayam and Mulanthuruthy stations. The railways are also trying hard to find a solution by rescheduling the buffer time. Besides, passengers also suggest a MEMU service between Palaruvi and Venad to solve the travel crisis. The train was allotted for additional coaches from today, following passenger demands.

Why the protests
Sreejith Kumar, an executive member of Friends on Rail that led the protests, says, “Venad that had been reaching Ernakulam Junction for the last 52 years is now stopped at North station without arranging any alternate measures. This forced the passengers who needed to reach the offices at South to rely on Palaruvi, overcrowding the train. Today, a person fell unconscious in Palaruvi when the train reached Mulanthuruthi. First aid was given only after moving him to Tripunithura.” Besides operating a MEMU or a passenger train, the passengers say Palaruvi’s halt for allowing Vande Bharat to pass should be at Tripunithura. When the crowded train is halted for up to half an hour at stations like Mulanthuruthy even on scorching summer days, it exhausts passengers as the area doesn't even have shops to buy water.  Neither do they have any options to take other forms of transportation from here. If the train is halted at Tripunithura, then the passengers can either catch the metro train or bus to reach their place of work. 

Experts say that Palaruvi could be halted at Tripunithura if small changes are made to the schedule. Palaruvi Express reaches Kollam at 4.18 am; the train is halted here for almost half an hour before leaving the station at 4.50 am. One of the solutions is to start the train five minutes earlier from Kollam. Meanwhile, the train is supposed to reach Kottayam at 6.55 am and leave at 6.58 am. However, Palaruvi has been reaching Kottayam at 6.51 am for the last year. Around eight minutes could be saved if the train is just three more minutes early. This eight minutes is enough for the train to cover the distance between Tripunithura and Mulanthurruthy. 

The Palaruvi Express that enters Mulanthuruthy station by 7.40 – 7.50 am is scheduled to leave at 7.52 am. But, if the train leaves Kottayam 3 – 4 minutes early, it could reach Mulanthuruthy by 7.46 am. It could then leave this station quickly to reach Tripunithura at 7.55 am. Meanwhile, Vande Bharat would just be leaving Piravom. Now, Vande Bharat enters Piravom by 7.52 am when the Palaruvi is still waiting at Mulanthuruthy. So, Palaruvi can leave only after Vande Bharat has passed. This is the reason why Palaruvi gets halted for 20 – 30 minutes at Mulanthuruthy. Passengers had been constantly demanding a MEMU or a passenger service between Palaruvi and Venad even before Vande Bharat was flagged off. However, this never happened, adding to the woes of the rail passengers.