Thrissur Railway Passengers' Association, TRPA is the confluence of all the stake holders who are interested in the development of Railway facilities in and around Thrissur. Naturally, all the people who avail Railway facilities from Thrissur and other neighbouring stations are automatically the members of this association. Due to the historic reasons, commuters from Thrissur towards Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Palakkad sides form the active group. TRPA always stands for meeting the public demands and this process is well supported by Railway Men, Political Leaders and the Media in Thrissur. The tireless efforts by TRPA in achieving the long standing basic requirements of Thrissur are well recognised and appreciated by one and all. TRPA is committed to continue its service to the society at large, cutting across all divisions. "Our prime focus is on the sustainable improvement of rail service in the country to world class levels with special emphasis on Thrissur"

Saturday 30 July 2016

Spl rly services sought on Vavu bali day

Passengers have asked that the railways arrange special services to Aluva on August 1and 2 on the occasion of Karkidaka Vavu at Aluva Manappuram on Tuesday morning.
P Krishnakumar of Thrissur railway passengers association requested the Thiruvananthapuram division to extend the passenger train (no. 56605) from Coimbatore that reaches in Thrissur at 8.45 pm to Aluva on Monday . “It will benefit hundreds of devotes who throng the Manappuram for performing rituals if the Thrissur-Kannur passenger train (no. 56603) began from Aluva on Tuesday .
This year's Karkidaka Vavu falls on Tuesday and since the day Palakkad-Ernakulam Memu service would not be available, passengers have also requested to extend the Kozhikode-Thrissur passenger till Ernakulam Junction.
(Times of India dt 31-7-2016)

Shornur - Ernakulam train sought

(Mathrubhumi Palakkad dt 31-7-2016)

Friday 29 July 2016

Escalator installation in progress

(Malayala Manorama Metro dt 30-7-2016)
(Mathrubhumi dt 30-7-2016)
(Deepika dt 29-7-2016)

Saturday 16 July 2016

Thursday 14 July 2016

Friday 8 July 2016

Finally JVs taking shape

(Deccan Chronicle dt 9-7-2016)
(Malayala Manorama dt 9-7-2016)

No allocation for ERG

(Malayala Manorama Kochi dt 9-7-2016)

Mangaluru-Bengaluru trains to run via Shravanabelagola from March

Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel on Friday said that Mangaluru-Bengaluru express trains would run via Shravanabelagola once the new Hassan-Bengaluru railway line is commissioned. This would reduce the distance as well as travelling time between Bengaluru and Mangaluru drastically, Mr. Kateel said.
Speaking to reporters after inaugurating a set of escalators at the Mangaluru Central Railway Station here, Mr. Kateel said that the new line is set to be commissioned by March next. Land acquisition problems had delayed completion of the project near Solur in Ramnagaram district. With the issue being sorted out, work is going on in full swing, Mr. Kateel said.
He said that the Shiradi Ghat stretch between Kukke Subrahmanya Road and Sakleshpur has the capacity to accommodate two more trains to fulfil the demand of the coastal region seeking the operation of more number of trains between Mangaluru and Bengaluru. Besides the train announced in the budget by the then Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, he is demanding two more trains for passengers on the stretch, Mr. Kateel said.
Asked about the demand to extend the Mangaluru-Madgaon Intercity Express to Mumbai because of low patronage, the MP said that the issue is before the Railway Ministry and he is pursuing it. He said that rescheduling or re-routing the Kasargod-Mookambika Road Byndoor Passenger train due to low patronage is also on the cards and there is a demand to run it between Kukke Subrahmanya and Byndoor to facilitate pilgrims.

Mangaluru Division

Mr. Kateel reiterated the demand for the formation of a new Railway Division in Mangaluru, which is presently being served by three zones — Konkan Railway, South Western Railway and Southern Railway.
Southern Railway has only 13 km railroad length in Karnataka, he said and added that bringing Mangaluru region under Konkan Railway is not possible for technical reasons.
Hence, the creation of a new division under South Western Railway or bringing Mangaluru region under South Western Railway are the options left, he said.
To a question on improving Mangaluru Central Railway Station, Divisional Railway Manager, Palakkad, Naresh Lalwani, said that tenders would be called for immediately to improve the second entrance on the Attavar side and build one more platform.
Line doubling between Central and Netravath Cabin would also be taken up immediately, he added.
The escalators have been installed at a cost of Rs. 2 crore to facilitate passengers to move from the main entry to Platform Nos. 2 and 3 with ease.
(The Hindu, Mangaluru dt 9-7-2016)

Before and after the Jayanti Janata

For Ernakulam Junction 1956 was a momentous year; a year that triggered off a slew of developments that makes it today the busiest railway station in the State.
The Kottayam-Ernakulam railway line, which now facilitates traffic between Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram via Kollam was formally opened on October 17, 1956. This year marks the Golden Jubilee of the occasion.
Work on the construction of this metre gauge line was inaugurated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on December 24, 1952, at Ernakulam. ‘The function was attended by the erstwhile rulers of Cochin and the leading personalities of the day,’ writes N. Samraj in History of Railways in Kerala. The first reach of the project, between Ernakulam and Kottayam was completed and train services commenced on October 17, 1956 and in 1958 the Kollam line also became functional.
“Ernakulam was a wayside station before these developments; a sort of link to the Cochin Harbour Terminus that had great facilities and was a busy station then. The expansion of FACT and with the Cochin Refineries coming up at Ambalamugal facilitated its progress. That’s when the marshalling yard was constructed. Dieselisation, electrification, computerisation, automatic signalling system, all of these during different times helped in changing the face of Ernakulam,” says Rajesh Chandran, Ernakulam Area Manager, Southern Railway.
A.P. Tharakan, Retd. Area Manager remembers the days when management and monitoring was a difficult task at Ernakulam. “When I joined the Railways in 1975 the Ernakulam-Kottayam line was converted to broad gauge. In 1980 when I took charge as Area Manager the office functioned out of a small shed with an asbestos sheet roof. It was a one-room shed located south of the railway station. The most ‘popular’ train was the Jayanti Janata to Bombay. We had two express trains to Madras, two to Mangalore, the Tea Garden Express to Mettupalayam and the Island Express to Bangalore that started from Harbour Terminus. There were only three platforms, the Town Station was not developed and the equipment with which we operated was archaic when compared to what is in use today. For instance, we now have the Route Relay Interlocking system. In this, an entire route through the station can be selected and all the associated points and signals along the route can be set at once by a knob. It operates by electrical circuitry. Those days it had to be done manually.”
This introduction of the RRI was a major landmark in the development of Ernakulam. “Before this there was a constant complaint from passengers as trains used to be retained at the outer signal, most of the trains either arrived or departed late. Two people who did a lot for the development of this station were Pius Joseph (Chief Passenger Traffic Operations Manager) and Thomas Varghese (Chief Operation Manager). Pius Joseph worked to set up the Trivandrum Division, which facilitated the establishment of the Area Manager office in Ernakulam, while it was Thomas Varghese who was instrumental in setting up the RRI and other developments,” remembers K. George John, who was Area Manager here and retired as Deputy Chief Operations Manager (Construction).
The development of Ernakulam sounded the death knell for Harbour Terminus. The station that once catered to passenger and a huge volume of freight traffic gradually began to lose prominence. “The Cochin Port was a beehive of activity those days. Pig Iron to Coimbatore, pulp to Hindustan Newsprint Ltd, Velloor, ammonia to FACT and also to Chennai, coir and copra products came by ship and transported by train from Harbour Terminus. We also handled the military shipments. Once, we loaded Bofors guns that was shipped to Cochin, in special trains, and sent them to specific military camps with heavy security. Rice, steel, fish from Chilka (Orissa) came to Cochin by train. The station had a water tank, pit lane and other facilities. When the number and frequency of trains increased it became difficult for this station to handle the load. That’s how the focus shifted to Ernakulam. The gradual decline of goods traffic at Harbour Terminus was another reason,” says George John.
The opening of the Ernakulam-Kayamkulam line via Alappuzha opened a new chapter in the growth of Ernakulam station. The initial survey for this project started in 1975 and construction of railway line began in April 1979. “Kamalapati Tripathi, the Railway Minister, came to Ernakulam for the inauguration. On the day of the event, at around two in the morning, I got a call telling me to arrange a basket of hibiscus flowers and a ‘security-cleared’ barber. The Minister wanted a shave and the flowers were meant for his morning pooja. I managed to arrange both,” says Tharakan with a chuckle. The Ernakulam-Alappuzha line was open to traffic in 1989 and Alappuzha- Kayamkulam line in 1992.
Despite the development of Ernakulam Town the Ernakulam station has an average daily footfall of 50,000, around 25,000 tickets are sold daily that does not include season tickets and 76 pairs of trains pass through this station every day on six platforms. “The station is equipped with free high-speed Wi-Fi service, launched by Railtel, in collaboration with Google. A trendy, air-conditioned waiting room and twin escalators are also in place. But we need more amenities here. We need shelters for the platforms and at least two trains to the North East considering the demand from the huge migrant population that depend on trains,” says Rajesh Chandran.
(The Hindu, Kochi dt 9-7-2016)