Railways assurance about gatekeepers

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Southern Railway has plans to post gatekeepers at 90 of the 112 unmanned level-crossings under the Thiruvananthapuram Division. ‘’Out of the 21 unmanned level-crossings made ready to be manned, eight have already become manned and the remaining gates will be manned by the first week of September,’’  Rajiv Dutt Sarma, divisional manager, Southern Railways, said after hoisting the national flag on the occasion of the Independence Day celebrations at the Railway Divisional office here on Monday.  Admitting that unmanned level crossings are a matter of serious concern in this division, with the Kayamkulam-Alappuzha -Ernakulam section having the maximum number of unmanned level crossings, Sarma said that intensive awareness campaign on the precautions to be taken by the road users at sensitive unmanned level crossings would be taken up.  ‘’The Thiruvananthapuram Division has carried 319.31 lakh passengers in the current financial year up to July  2011, and has earned Rs 287.43 crore, which is 5.04 per cent more than that of the corresponding period last year. The freight loading performance has registered a significant improvement of 11 per cent over the target and 5 per cent over the corresponding period last year,’’ Sarma said.  On the passenger amenities, Sarma said UTS facility has been provided at  80 stations. In addition, IUTS has been provided at 29 stations. ‘’The IUTS facility at Valliyur and Nanguneri has been commissioned in August 2011, and IUTS facility at Murukkumpuzha and Aralvaimozhi will be commissioned shortly. Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sevaks have been provided at 19 locations under the division. With the completion of the above IUTS/UTS facilities, the division can boast that it has fulfilled the ticketing needs through UTS/IUTS at all major and minor stations under the division,’’ he said.  The divisional manager also announced that the double line between Kayamkulam and Haripad will be commissioned this month. ‘’The problem of terminals being faced by this division is also a stupendous task. The early completion of the remaining works at Kochuveli coach terminal, setting up of one more terminal facility at Nemom and the proposed new coaching terminal at Kottayam alone can improve the operational efficiency of this division in the years to come,’’  Sarma said.