Bhubaneswar, April 5 The East Coast Railway (ECoR) said on Sunday that its revenue generation will remain unaffected even after the transfer of the Palasa-Ichchapuram section to the South Coast Railway (SCoR).
ECoR issued this clarification after all opposition political parties in Odisha, including BJD and Congress, announced that they would jointly protest the Railway Board's decision to transfer the Palasa-Ichchapuram section to SCoR.
ECoR said in a statement that the Palasa-Ichchapuram section (about 50 km) consists of 7 stations – Palasa, Summadevi, Mandasa Road, Baruva, Sompeta, Jhadupudi, and Ichchapuram. All these stations are located in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, and none of these stations are located within Odisha.
It said that all these stations are small to mid-sized stations handling primarily passenger traffic. None of them is a major freight loading point, ECoR said, and claimed that its revenue remains unaffected.
It said that freight traffic (trains transiting through these stations en route) will continue uninterrupted regardless of which zone's jurisdiction the stations fall under. Railway operations are seamless across zonal boundaries, it said.
ECoR also further clarified that there will be no disruption to train services. All existing trains, including Palasa–Bhubaneswar, Palasa–Cuttack, and Ichchapuram–Cuttack MEMU/passenger services will continue to operate without any change in schedule, route, or frequency, it said.
Describing the present decision based on a technical revision to ensure smooth functioning of the passenger services in the Visakhapatnam division, ECoR said that the modalities of the transfer, including staff deployment, are being finalised between ECoR and SCoR. The interests and service conditions of all railway employees will be fully protected as per established norms, it said.