Ongoing work at stations: ManoramaKochi: The Indian Railway is gearing up for a makeover of its stations in Ernakulam region. A slew of new facilities, from foot over bridges to escalators to IRCTC executive lounges and food courts will be introduced in 2018 in an attempt to give railway the much needed facelift.
IRCTC executive lounge
The Executive Lounge will be a relief for passengers looking for a place to quickly freshen up before or after a train journey.
The vacant land near the old parcel office adjacent to the Ernakulam South railway station is marked as the location for the lounge.
IRCTC has taken hold of the land and the tender process has been completed.
After Ernakulam, the railway has plans to open similar lounges in two more stations in Kerala. Currently, only Delhi, Jaipur and Agra railway stations have executive passenger lounges.
Instead of an expensive hotel room for a day's use, passengers can freshen up at a mere Rs 100 per hour in the Lounge.
Equipped with air conditioned rooms, business centers, locker facility, recliner chairs, bathrooms, mini library, free Wi-Fi and food counter, the executive lounges will redefine the experience at the railway station.
The departing passengers can also avail the facility. Booking is made available through the IRCTC website. A new fast food unit will open near the information counter.
Battery car for the elderly and differently abled
The battery car facility at the Ernakulam South station was halted after it was denied permission to transfer passengers between platforms.
The station manager has revoked this decision and the free-of-cost facility will be reinstated within the next 15 days.
New foot over bridge, escalator, lift in Ernakulam Town station
Railway’s engineering division has heeded to the long-standing demand to build a wider foot over bridge at the Ernakulam North railway station.
The construction would begin in 2018. The new bridge would begin near the station’s information counter and end at SRM Road.
The escalator and lift will be opened for passenger use in January, said area manager R. Harikrishnan. The second platform will get new wash rooms in the coming months.
Fast food unit, modernized ticket counters
The vegetarian hotel at the Ernakulam North station has been reopened. A new fast food unit will start operating from the old ticket counter area at the station entrance.
The information counter and reservation counter near the parcel office will be relocated to the ticket booking center in order to bring all facilities under one roof.
Second foot over bridge, vegetarian hotel in Aluva station
At Aluva Station, the tender process is in the final stages to build a second foot over bridge near the parking lot. A vegetarian hotel is also on the cards.
Food court in Ernakulam South railway station
Ernakulam South railway station will soon have a food-stop-diner-restaurant spread across 8000 square feet in its first platform.
In a first by a flight kitchen group, the catering operations will be run by Casino Air Caterers and Flight Services (CASF) who supplies in-flight meals in Kochi, Kozhikode and Chennai Airports in south India.
V.C. Sudheesh, senior divisional commercial manager, says if the first project succeeds the company will extend the group’s service to other stations.
IRCTC had invited tenders from flight kitchens after several complaints were received about the poor quality of the food served in station canteens. The proposed food court will open in the second week of January, 2018.
The food court will have a counter named Curry Tree for south Indian and local food; another counter for Chinese cuisine called Asian Street Food.
Idli Bar (i Bar) will serve mini idlis with Sambar in small, medium and large sized containers.
George Dominic, CEO of CASF, said that the quality of food will be on par with the food served in the domestic and international terminals at the Cochin International Airport.
Prices will be kept affordable for the railway passengers.
CASF also has plans to take charge of IRCTC’s base kitchens which supplies food in the trains.
