Kannur: As many as 15 medium railway stations in Kerala with highest revenue and passenger footfall have been upgraded, finding place in the Non Suburban Group (NSG), a new group in the Railway list.
Five stations – . Kasaragod, Payyanur, Koyilandy, Thiruvalla and Ottapalam– have been placed in the Rs 20-100 crore revenue (NSG-3) group. These were earlier in the NSG-4 group.
Feroke, Tripunithura, Karunagappally and Cherthala were upgraded to NSG 4 from group 5, while Manjeswaram, Kotikulam, Punalur, Kottarakkara, Etumanoor and Thuravoor have gone up from group six to five.
Advancement of stations
According to the estimate for the year 2023-24, the income of the Kasaragod station is Rs 49.70 crore. During 2018-19, it was Rs 21.68 crore. The increase in revenue is Rs 28.02 crores. During 2018-19, there were 24.98 lakh passengers as against 28.70 lakh passengers during 2023-24.
The rise in the revenue is Rs 4.98 crores in Payyanur and Rs 48 lakhs in Manjeswaram.
The number of passengers increased to 78,000 in Manjeswaram. Vadakara, which is continuing in NSG-3, saw a revenue of Rs 9.89 crore and an increase of 8.10 lakh passengers.
Most of the upgraded stations are being included in the Amrit Bharat scheme. Payyanur station is being renovated at a cost of Rs 32 crore. An amount ranging between Rs 15 crores and Rs 50 crores is spent per station.
Seven stations, including Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode, are being developed on an international model at a cost of Rs 138 crore to Rs 497 crore.
Small stations under threat
There are 199 railway stations, including halt stations, in Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram/ Palakkad Division). The D grade category stations with low revenue and passenger numbers will be turned into halt stations initially. After that, if the income is not satisfactory, the functioning of the same would be discontinued. When the passenger trains turned to express trains, most of the halt stations ceased to be stops for those trains, putting their existence in crisis.
Railway NSG Grade
| NSG 1 | Revenue above Rs 500 crore |
| NSG 2 | Revenue between Rs 100-500 crores |
| NSG 3 | Revenue between Rs 20-100 crores |
| NSG 4 | Revenuebetween Rs 10-20 crores |
| NSG 5 | Revenue between Rs 1 - 10 crore |
| NSG 6 | Revenue of Rs 1 crore and below. |
Published: 13 Sept 2024, 04:11 pm IST
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