Vande Bharat Will you come to Kerala? Kerala’s Vande Bharat has been running through controversies for some time now. Although Vande Bharat has been granted to almost all the states in the country, the flag is still red on the rail to Kerala. Though Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had recently said that Kerala will get the train, the Centre, Kerala and other political parties are busy arguing over the reasons behind not getting the Vande Bharat. How many people know that Kerala is loosing the trains it got while clamoring for Vande Bharat and more trains. That is the truth. The interpretation is lack of convenience. In that name, trains were continuously lost in Kerala. All these were eligible trains for Kerala. The reasons and justifications are many. Regardless of the reasons, the loss is the passenger. Even more disappointing is the continued loss of trains despite the lack of efforts to address their causes. What does that mean? Kerala will lose more trains. Which trains have Kerala lost in recent times? Just looking at them will tell you the depth of the loss. Meanwhile, the reasons given by the Railways for this are even more strange. Only one question left. When will Kerala get relief from the double lane of neglect and complacency? Who is raising the red flag for Kerala’s railway development? Let’s check in detail…
∙ Dhanbad Express ‘defunct’ at Coimbatore
Recently, Dhanbad-Coimbatore Express was completely lost to Kerala. Let’s see how. Railways had earlier decided to start this train from Kochi or Thiruvananthapuram. But the divisions in Kerala washed their hands on the grounds that there were no facilities for maintenance at these two places. The reasons are very strange. It was argued that there was not enough time for train maintenance and there were not enough employees. For this reason the Thiruvananthapuram division refused to take over the train. With that, the railway decided to stop the train service at Coimbatore.
At the same time let’s look at the interest of Tamil Nadu. If Thiruvananthapuram refuses, Salem Division is ready to take over the train. With that, Kerala lost that train forever. Loss to Kerala and guest workers working here. The migrant workers come from the North East region of India. Dhanbad is a useful train for them. Railways has prepared such a service in the belief that it will benefit thousands of guest workers working in Kerala. At present many guest workers are traveling on Alappuzha-Dhanbad Express. The train up to Dhanbad in Jharkhand would have been the main connecting service to the North East region.
∙ If there is ‘Viveku’ everyday then why ‘Guwahati’?
Till date there has been no dispute between Guwahati and Dibrugarh in that country. But there is a dispute in the railways on behalf of the trains with that name. Railways won the dispute, but passengers lost. The story goes like this: The Superfast Express, which was earlier plying the Thiruvananthapuram-Guwahati route, is now ending its service at Coimbatore. Want to hear the reason? Dibrugarh Vivek Express is currently a weekly train. The interpretation was that this change was made before the express was recently made daily. There is ambiguity in the reason for laying the railways. This is the real reason. It is said that the reason behind this decision is that Guwahati will not operate the train once the Vivek Express is made daily. This ‘handling’ is work including maintenance.
But there is no clear answer to the question why one train’s service frequency is increased while another train is discontinued. Those who needed it did not even ask for it. There is no justice on the part of the authorities. Vivek Express and Guwahati Express do not operate at the same time. Therefore, the problem of congestion on the railway line or the problem of the path does not arise. The story is not over; Vivek has yet to make the Daily Express. As a result, Kerala’s losses doubled. Thiruvananthapuram division is leading in losing the allotted trains without taking them. With Palakkad taking over a train that was rejected by Thiruvananthapuram recently, it can be said that Kerala did not lose out completely.
∙ Sorry, the train will not run to Bengaluru even if the rake is left alone!
There are many reasons for missing trains. Let’s look at other stories of loss: Mangaluru-Hathia Special Fare Express was supposed to depart from Ernakulam earlier. The name would have been Ernakulam-Hathiya Express. But it was shifted to Mangaluru due to the inconvenience of the railway. Hence the name Mangaluru-Hatia Express. Bad decision for Kochi. But fortunately, this decision turned out to be very beneficial for Malabar.
Mangaluru-Jammutavi Navayug Express service has been completely stopped after covid as part of consolidation of service. Thiruvananthapuram-Bangalore weekly express service was also discontinued years ago. The reason for this is strange. This service was canceled citing the reason that another regular service was started from Kochuveli to Bengaluru. Meanwhile, the rake used for the weekly express is still lying idle in Thiruvananthapuram for three days. Railways have been reluctant to run trains to Bengaluru in the past. There are reasons for that. It’s just that it can’t be said.
∙ Everyone got Vande Bharatam, just salutations to Kerala
Vande Bharat is the star of Railways in recent times. Vande Bharat Express is now operating in almost all the states of the country. Apart from some North Eastern states and Union Territories, Kerala is the only state which does not get this state-of-the-art train. Even there the negative policy is the humiliation of the state. 36 percent of the total railway track in the state has sharp curves and ups and downs. The 608 km stretch from Thiruvananthapuram to Mangalore has more than six hundred bends. It is the assessment of the railways that the train cannot run at the intended speed through this route.
There are more obstacles from Thiruvananthapuram to Shornur. The first proposal of the Railway Board was Vandebharat Express from Thiruvananthapuram to Mangalore. But this idea can be implemented only if it is run in 8 hours. No attempt has been made on the part of the divisions in Kerala to overcome any of these obstacles. Moreover, the work of the maintenance depots, which need to be repaired when the Vandebharat Express arrives, is also not advanced enough. Despite all this happening, none of the people’s representatives in Kerala are ready to raise their voice against this. If you look at these things, what does it matter if you get Vandebharat!. That means Vande Bharat will not run in Kerala. Instead everything crawls and creaks.
English Summary: Why Kerala is Not Getting New Trains Including Indian Railway’s Prestigious ‘Vande Bharath’?
