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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday wrote to Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, requesting him to personally look into the "inexplicable omission of Thiruvananthapuram from the Ministry of Railways list of 48 cities slated for infrastructure upgrades & capacity doubling under Vision 2030", demanding immediate rectification.
" To exclude a State Capital and a Divisional HQ from such a critical initiative is a baffling administrative oversight. Given the operational load on TVC and the need to develop Nemom & Kochuveli, this anomaly requires immediate rectification," Tharoor posted on X. In his letter addressed to Vaishnaw, Tharoor said that Thiruvananthapuram, which is Kerala's capital, manages the very division under which many of these trains operate. "While I am pleased to see our sister, Kochi, included in the list, the absence of the state capital - which manages the very division under which many of these trains operate - is an anomaly that required immediate rectification," the letter read. "I urge you to personally review this matter and ensure that Thiruvananthapuram is rightfully added to the list of selected cities. The development of our rail infrastructure cannot be selective; it must be commensurate with the administrative stature and operational reality of the region," Tharoor said. This comes after Indian Railways announced plans to double the train origination capacity of major cities over the next five years, with the target set for completion by 2030. The initiative aims to reduce congestion at busy stations, improve operational efficiency, and strengthen nationwide rail connectivity. The Ministry of Railways has identified 48 major cities under the expansion plan. "In view of the rapid sustained growth in demand for travel, the capacity of major cities to originate new trains needs to be doubled from the current level in the next 5 years. The current infrastructure serving needs to be augmented so as to meet the requirements of upcoming years," the Ministry of Railways said in a statement. The exercise will be done for both suburban and non-suburban traffic, keeping in view the distinct requirements of both segments. A comprehensive plan of the 48 major cities is under consideration. The plan will include the works planned, proposed, or already sanctioned to achieve the goal of doubling the capacity of handling trains in a time-bound manner, the Railways Ministry said. These cities include Delhi, Mumbai (CR and WR), Kolkata (including ER, SER and Kolkata Metro), Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Pune. Other key cities in the northern and central regions include Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Agra, Mathura, Ayodhya, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jammu, and Bareilly. In the eastern and northeastern parts of India, the cities identified for capacity enhancement include Patna, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Gaya, Ranchi, Tatanagar, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Guwahati, and Kolkata. The southern and western regions are represented by cities such as Nagpur, Vadodara, Surat, Madgaon, Cochin, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Mysore, and Coimbatore. The expansion plan focuses on augmenting existing railway terminals by adding new platforms, stabling lines, pit lines, and shunting facilities. In parallel, new coaching terminals will be developed in and around urban areas, along with the creation of advanced maintenance facilities such as mega coaching complexes, the Railways Ministry added. (ANI)
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