It is around 9AM last Thursday morning & the train from Chennai is approaching my station (Mavelikara). As is the usual practise, I had called home while at the previous station so that in the 20-mins or so that it takes for the train to reach my stop, my Dad and son could drive down to Mavelikara station to pick me up.
As the train nears my station, I look out of the right-side door to see if I can spot our car parked on the road parallel to the railway tracks. Our station Mavelikkara is as sleepy a station as you could imagine and from my childhood, it has looked the same - 2 tracks, 2 platforms, big FCI godowns on one side, couple of small buildings on the other side that house the ticketing / reservation office & waiting area. On the platform you have a small book-shop, the usual hpmc juice kiosk etc. The only thing that has changed is that some 20 years ago you had taxis parked outside, which have been replaced by auto-rickshaws today.
But today something seems different - different enough for me to think that it's some other station. For starters, the train is neither going to Platform 1 or 2 as is usually the case. Instead it is coming to a stop on Platform-3. Ha, that is new. Plus as seen from the approaching train, I feel like there are a multitude of tracks - to someone used to seeing 2 tracks, even 4 or 5 is a multitude. :-) And this change has happened over the 2 weeks that I had been here last.
Not just that, the approach road to the station, which has been in shambles for years is now properly laid with tar. The parking area for cars and scooters that used to be uneven ground, is also levelled & tarred. Wow !!! I almost felt like I am approaching some other station. I had heard something about Mavelikara station being developed as a "Model station" and this change must be related to that. I don't care whether it is a model station or not, but it does feels good when basic infrastructure is in place.
Another change happening on this stretch between Kayankulam and Ernakulam is dual tracks being laid. I know it sounds primitive to have just 1 track for a 100km stretch, but that has been the case till now. This means that if a train leaves from Kayankulam to Mavelikara, another train going in the opposite direction has to stay put at Mavelikara till the former arrives. This has to be done for all the 8-odd stations between Kayankulam and Ernakulam - you can imagine the time lost in this process and how it makes almost all trains run late. Currently most trains take close to 3 hours for a Mavelikara-Ernakulam run . Once dual tracks are laid it should be easily done in less than 2 hours.
Unlike other states where land is available in plenty, Kerala is very densely populated and thus acquiring land to lay another track takes a long time - due to litigation. Also, Kerala has many rivers and thus dual tracks mean building another bridge - another time-intensive effort. Anyway, work is progressing on the dual track effort and some sections are already dual track. The Kayankulam-Mavelikara section is the most recent one to be completed, which would gladden the hearts of regular travellers.
However, this recent change brought grief to a few families in just 2 days after the new track was thrown open. On the first day (or night actually), three young men were killed when they were hit by a train when they were crossing the tracks. Looks like they were not aware of the fact that the new track was now in use. As if this was not enough the next day 2 more deaths were reported on the same section - again hit by trains. It was painful to read in the newspaper about the grieving families - especially the wives and kids who lost their husbands/fathers.
