Kochi: Kerala faces neglect from the Railways once again, as not a single one of the 30 MEMU trains being rolled out this financial year has been allocated to the state. The new 12-coach MEMU trains have been assigned exclusively to North Indian zones, leaving Southern Railway with no allocations whatsoever.

An additional 50 coaches are required to expand the capacity of the eight MEMU trains operating in the Thiruvananthapuram Division from 8 coaches to 16. Although crores of rupees were spent setting up facilities at the Kollam shed to maintain 16-coach MEMU rakes, the shed remains unable to operate at full capacity due to the lack of rakes.

Replacing the ICF-built passenger trains currently running in the state with MEMUs requires 10 new MEMU rakes. Despite these requirements, not a single rake has been allotted to the state.

Meanwhile, allegations persist that top officials in Southern Railway are failing to press authorities for the needed MEMU rakes.