The Southern Railway will implement development works worth ₹5 crore to ₹10 crore at the Paravur railway station in Kollam by including it in the Amrit Bharat scheme, Ministry of Railways’ new policy for modernisation of stations.
“The decision was announced in a meeting of MPs called by the general manager of Southern Railway,” said N.K. Premachandran, MP, here on Friday.
The construction of a high-level platform at Mayyanad to accommodate longer trains will be completed before March 31. While the proposal to set up a Railway Training Institute at Kollam is under consideration, soil testing at 20 sites has been completed as part of the first phase of Kollam railway station upgrade and other development works.
Southern Railway officials said the construction of the Kundara-Elampallur railway flyover can be started if the State government appoints an implementing agency and clears administrative hurdles.
Meanwhile, the project to upgrade the Kollam station with futuristic infrastructure and airport-like facilities is progressing at a steady pace. It is one of the busiest railheads in Kerala categorised under NSG-3 stations. The station redevelopment work is slated for completion in another 33 months. While site office, laboratory facilities and storage facilities have been inaugurated, site safety barricading, casting of test piles for a multi-level car parking (MLCP) building and demolition of the existing building are among other the works completed recently, the officials said.
As part of the works, 36 existing facilities, including the Railway Magistrate Court, RMS, parcel office and crew control office, are being shifted to temporary facilities for fast-tracking the south terminal construction. The south terminal building is planned as G+3 structure with amenities of world-class standards. The upgraded Kollam Junction station will have adequate number of lifts and escalators as well as multi-level parking, pick-up and drop-off areas, and a separate arrival and departure concourse, the officials added.
