Rail projects in Kerala to gain momentum with appointment of nodal officer

With railway minister Dinesh Trivedi's announcement that a chief administrative officer (CAO) would be appointed as nodal officer to liaise between the centre and the state governments for rail development, the centre has acceded to a longstanding demand for establishment of a railway administrative office in Kerala.

The office would be tasked with coordinating development activities under the Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions.

According to railway officials in the state the appointment of the CAO would speed up the ongoing works and spur development activities under the two divisions.

These include construction of rail over-bridges and track doubling. The establishment of the CAO office in the state would provide impetus to such projects they said.

They said establishment of the CAO's office would be the first step towards establishment of a railway zone for the state.

Currently, development works under the Southern Railway are being undertaken by the CAO (Construction) in Chennai, Egmore.