Train number 16302/16301 Venad Express will skip its stop at Ernakulam Junction railway station from May 1 on a temporary basis. This is owing to infrastructure augmenting work at the station, railway sources said.
The train will arrive early at Ernakulam Town station and halt there for five minutes. Passengers who used to alight at Ernakulam Junction could disembark at Ernakulam Town or Thripunithura. The decision to skip Ernakulam Junction was taken since two tracks had to be spared for approximately 30 minutes each during peak hours in the morning and evening for shunting the train. This was a major operational constraint, especially since many trains had to be held up in the outer of the station due to non-availability of platforms, they added.
Inadequate platform capacity at Ernakulam Junction was being cited as among the reasons for the delay in commencing the long-awaited Ernakulam-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express service as well.
In a release, Friends on Rails, a conclave of rail passengers, said many passengers would be inconvenienced if the stop of Venad Express at Ernakulam Junction was taken away. Alighting at Thripunithura will not benefit most passengers since most of them will have to depend on Kochi metro trains for which they will have to pay ₹30 to reach the city.
On its part, the Railways must allot a new MEMU train on the Ernakulam-Kottayam route which has acute shortage of trains during morning peak hours, in case the stop of Venad Express at Ernakulam Junction is taken away. It must also improve platform capacity at the station, so that it can host more express trains, it said.
