Railway Budget- City gets Duronto and MEMU

With the introduction of six new trains, including a Duronto Express and MEMU, the Union Railway budget presented on Friday has brought much for Thiruvananthapuram to cheer about.  The new passenger terminal at Nemom is one of the highlights of the budget.

The Chennai-trivandrum AC Duronto is one among the ninte Durontos announced in the budget.  This will run twice a week.  The budget also proposed a MEMU service connecting Kollam and Nagarcoil.

Highlights

• Passenger terminal at Nemom
• Chennai-TVM Duronto Express.
• Kollam-Nagarcoil MEMU service.
• Nilambur-TVM link Express.
• Bhavanagar-Kochuveli Express.
• Dibrugrah-TVM-Kanyakumari Express.
• Porbander-Kochuveli Express.
• Chennai-Pondicherry-TVM-Ernakulam-Chennari student’s Express.

There were not much announcement on infrastructure development, the lack of which will fail to give the benefits of additional trains.  The lines are oversaturated and more trains will make the Trivandrum terminal more congested.   The budget was a disappointment to Trivandrum-Bangalore passengers.