With a major goods shed and FCI siding, the West Hill station in Kozhikode has become one of the major freight terminals in the State during the COVID-19-induced lockddown.
The station has witnessed a surge in goods traffic during the pandemic period. The facility, consisting of the goods platform and FCI siding, handled 1,850 wagons in the past six months which is almost triple the number of wagons handled (670 numbers) compared with the same period the previous financial year.
Officials said that the goods shed catered to Kozhikode, Wayanad, and part of Malappuram districts while the FCI depot served Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. The FCI siding dealt with foodgrains, mainly rice and wheat for public distribution whereas the goods shed mainly dealt with inward wheat for roller flour mills, fertilizers, and cement. In April, 569 wagons were unloaded at the FCI siding. The figure for May was 280, June 195, July 272 and August 391. The goods platform handled 151 wagons during April 2020. Likewise, in May it was 245, June 206, July 264 and August 148. The goods shed this year too received the customary fertilizer inwards in the pre-monsoon and monsoon periods.
The West Hill goods shed was in the national news after the trial run of a ro-ro rake was conducted last month for the extension of the services from Surathkal. The Southern Railway is actively considering the ro-ro facility for trucks as the path is found suitable for the operation. On introduction of this service, the facility will be beneficial to freight movers operating through Konkan in either direction as they can go up to Kolad, Maharashtra, by skipping the busy NH 66, officials said.
In the Konkan Railway, ro-ro service is now terminated at Surathkal, north of Mangaluru. If the extension of ro-ro service to West Hill is materialised, the trucks coming to Kerala from Konkan, or proceeding towards Konkan from Kerala will have an economic and faster option to take the rail route by skipping the busy NH 66 for 250 km up to Surathkal and more than 1,000 km up to Mumbai.
Once operational, the ro-ro is expected to meet the transportation needs of the plantation sector - high-value agri- products like coconut, arecanut, spices, pineapple, and other fruits in addition to rubber, plywood, white goods and manufactured items from Kerala. A market analysis conducted on ro-ro predicts the scope of at least one ro-ro service carrying 50 to 60 road vehicles on every alternate day from West Hill.
In the post-lockdown period, transport service providers too are increasingly coming forward to use Railways to transport the consignments which are normally moved by road. In one such move, a transport service provider started dispatching 2,100 cars to Kerala from Gujarat. From this consignment, 750 cars are being unloaded at West Hill in September and October for sale in Kozhikode.