Kerala's first city rail service -Cochin City Service -will be inaugurated at 10am on Sunday. At the same time, the DemuMemu deadlock is now at Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu's door and only he can withdraw the decision to change Demu to Memu after the inaugural service on Sunday. The minister and senior Southern Railway (SR) authorities reached Kochi late on Saturday.
Railway authorities had earlier announced that a Demu service, which has the country's first air-conditioned Demu coach, would run on the Aluva-Ernakulam-Tripunithura stretch as part of the city service.
Later, authorities decided that the Demu rake will be replaced with a Memu from Monday, when regular services begin.
“Now, everything is in the hands of the railway minister. We will not replace Demu with Memu if he issues an official order in this regard,“ said a senior SR official. Apart from the AC coach, Demu rake has better seats, separate coaches for vendors, women and handicapped and more safety features.
As per the present plan, the Demu rake will be sent back to Chennai. Authorities will allot a Demu once Ernakulam Railway Goods station (the old railway station located behind the high court) and Cochin Harbour Terminus Station are included in the city service.However, there won't be an airconditioned coach.
Meanwhile, the Demu rake was taken to Ernakulam's marshalling yard to give final-touches on Saturday morning. Around 100 workers cleaned the coaches, while others fixed the destination boards. “Unlike Memu, Demu has digital display boards at its front and rear ends. Work related to rake cleaning and its functioning will be over by Saturday night,“ said an officer.
The inaugural service will leave Ernakulam Junction at 10.40am and reach Aluva by 11.25am, and will return from Aluva at 11.45am and reach Ernakulam Junction at 12.30pm.
Starting next week, the train will have eight schedules from 6.30am to 8.55pm along the Aluva-Ernakulam-Tripunithura route six days a week, except Sunday.The train will have a service each to Angamaly and Piravom Road in the evening.
no inkling that he would be chosen to pilot the Demu rake.“I'm honoured that I have been chosen for the job and I'm happy that railways is going to operate a city service in Ernakulam, after years, that would benefit hundreds of commuters in Aluva, Ernakulam and Tripunithura,“ said George who began his career 16 years ago.
The Thiruvananthapuram railway division selected him on Saturday evening. “He is the most-experienced among the six pilots who underwent a four-day training programme at the diesel traction and training centre, Tiruchirappalli earlier this week. Also, he has been operating Memu services in the sector for quite some time,“ said M A Joju, chief crew controller at Ernakulam depot. Once regular services begin, other loco pilots KS Sooraj, AN Unni, CK Biju, Gerald Rex and EG Rajesh who also underwent training will be on duty on a rotational basis. The team members were given a training session by senior loco inspector KN Radhakrishnan on Friday while the DEMU was taken for trial run from Ernakulam Junction to Thrissur.
(Times of India dt 21-6-2015
(Malayala Manorama Kochi dt 21-6-2015)
Railway authorities had earlier announced that a Demu service, which has the country's first air-conditioned Demu coach, would run on the Aluva-Ernakulam-Tripunithura stretch as part of the city service.
Later, authorities decided that the Demu rake will be replaced with a Memu from Monday, when regular services begin.
“Now, everything is in the hands of the railway minister. We will not replace Demu with Memu if he issues an official order in this regard,“ said a senior SR official. Apart from the AC coach, Demu rake has better seats, separate coaches for vendors, women and handicapped and more safety features.
As per the present plan, the Demu rake will be sent back to Chennai. Authorities will allot a Demu once Ernakulam Railway Goods station (the old railway station located behind the high court) and Cochin Harbour Terminus Station are included in the city service.However, there won't be an airconditioned coach.
Meanwhile, the Demu rake was taken to Ernakulam's marshalling yard to give final-touches on Saturday morning. Around 100 workers cleaned the coaches, while others fixed the destination boards. “Unlike Memu, Demu has digital display boards at its front and rear ends. Work related to rake cleaning and its functioning will be over by Saturday night,“ said an officer.
The inaugural service will leave Ernakulam Junction at 10.40am and reach Aluva by 11.25am, and will return from Aluva at 11.45am and reach Ernakulam Junction at 12.30pm.
Starting next week, the train will have eight schedules from 6.30am to 8.55pm along the Aluva-Ernakulam-Tripunithura route six days a week, except Sunday.The train will have a service each to Angamaly and Piravom Road in the evening.
no inkling that he would be chosen to pilot the Demu rake.“I'm honoured that I have been chosen for the job and I'm happy that railways is going to operate a city service in Ernakulam, after years, that would benefit hundreds of commuters in Aluva, Ernakulam and Tripunithura,“ said George who began his career 16 years ago.
The Thiruvananthapuram railway division selected him on Saturday evening. “He is the most-experienced among the six pilots who underwent a four-day training programme at the diesel traction and training centre, Tiruchirappalli earlier this week. Also, he has been operating Memu services in the sector for quite some time,“ said M A Joju, chief crew controller at Ernakulam depot. Once regular services begin, other loco pilots KS Sooraj, AN Unni, CK Biju, Gerald Rex and EG Rajesh who also underwent training will be on duty on a rotational basis. The team members were given a training session by senior loco inspector KN Radhakrishnan on Friday while the DEMU was taken for trial run from Ernakulam Junction to Thrissur.
(Times of India dt 21-6-2015
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