Palakkad division commissions works at Mangalore junction

MANGALORE: Palakkad division of Southern Railway has commissioned the doubling ofNethravati A cabin - Mangalore Junction section and yard remodelling at Mangalore junction. Installation of three numbers of lifts at Kozhikoderailway station, additional four bays of platform shelter at Kozhikode, 200 bays of mini shelters, foot over bridge at Palghat and MangaloreCentral and renovation to station building atKannur are also in progress.

Highlighting this in his address at the 64th Republic Day held at Palakkad, Piyush Agarwal, divisional railway manager, Palakkad division said a 140 tonnes brake down crane at Shoranur has been commissioned, due to which accident relief Train at Shoranur has been upgraded to A grade. The total earnings of the division stands at Rs. 698 crores for the current year which is 44 % higher than the earnings during the last year, Agarwal added.

The earning from freight has soared up by 128 % as compared with the previous year, recording Rs 303 crores. Earnings from passenger segment have also increased to Rs 356 crores, which is 11.40% higher than previous year. Number of passengers carried during the current year is 667 lakh which is 2.42% above previous year and surpassing the target. There has also been substantial increase in earnings from other coaching and sundry.

During November 2012, the division recorded highest ever originating loading of 0.761 million tones and highest coal loading of 0.622 million tonnes. The division achieved over all punctuality of 95.7% for mail/express trains and 95.9% for passenger trains during the year. The division published 13 types safety posters in trilingual form, 18 safety seminars were conducted and among these two were interdivisional safety seminar held with Trivandrum division.

The speed of 39 express and 14 passenger trains have been increased, gaining a total 521 minutes. During the current financial year, 595 special trains have been operated. Automatic ticket vending machines have been installed at Palakkad, Shoranur, Kozhikode, Thalassery, and Kannur railway stations. The division has 36 Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sewakwith 39 counters at 19 stations. 23% of the tickets issued by these stations are through these sewaks.