With the Sabarimala season having begun, the demand for interstate trains to stop at Tripunithura railway station has grown stronger. The Chottanikkara temple is a prominent place on the pilgrimage map for Sabari-mala devotees, however pe-ople, especially those from neighbouring states, are finding it hard to reach Chottanikkara.
The Thripunithura Rajan-agari Union of Residents’ Association, an apex council of residents associations in Tripunithura has now written to K. Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy, the minister of state for railways, seeking stops for trains, especially the Hyderabad-Trivandrum-Sabari Exp-ress (17229 and17230) and the Banglore-Kanyakumari Island Express-(16525-16526). It has also requested the ex-tension of the Ernakulam-Guruvayur passenger to Kottayam so that Chotta-nikkara gets connected to the pilgrimage map.
Tripunithura and Mul-anthuruthy railway statio-ns are the closest boarding points for devotees going to Chottanikkara. The railwa-ys has brought in a few special interstate trains since a sanctum sanctorum in Sab-arpimala was opened, however none of these trains stop in Tripunithura or Mulanthuruthy.
Tripunithura, being a station with very huge revenue despite being the stopping point for only a few trains, would be the ideal station for devotees to go to Chottanikkara, say TRURA officials. The Chennai Mail is the only interstate train that stops in Thrippu-nithura at present.
Even though the station has two platforms to accommodate 24 coaches each and a double line till Mulanth-uruthy, the potential of the railway station is still und-er-utilised. Commuters here have been forced to go to Ernakulam town, which is more than 15 km away from Tripunithura town.