The new railway station building at Changanassery was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Gohain said Railways had achieved a major milestone in the area of resource mobilisation through low-cost institutional funding to the tune of ₹1.5 lakh crore each for the next five years.
148% rise
As far as Kerala was concerned, the allocation had witnessed a 148% rise, to the tune of ₹923 crore during 2018-19, he said.
He said Railways were looking forward to different types of partnerships with State governments to improve the passenger services.
Footfall
The new building has been constructed at a cost of ₹7.2 crore as part of the Chengannur-Chingavanom doubling project, which is nearing completion. The station has an average footfall of 4,524 passengers a day and an earning of ₹2.95 lakh a day.
The new building is equipped with facilities including current and advance booking counters, parcel building facility, first and second class waiting facilities, ladies waiting rooms, differently abled-friendly toilets, etc.
K.J. Alphonse, Union Minister of State for Tourism, Kodikkunnil Suresh, MP, C.F. Thomas, MLA, C.P. Anil Kumar, chairman Changanassery municipality, senior railway authorities, and others were present on the occasion.