Kochi city corporation wants Ernakulam Junction Railway station to be renamed after erstwhile ruler

The meeting of the city corporation council, which held on Monday, passed the resolution to request the Railway Ministry to rename the station.

Kochi: The Left-ruled Kochi city corporation has passed a resolution seeking to rename the Ernakulam Junction railway station here after King Rama Varma, the erstwhile king of Cochin.

The meeting of the city corporation council, which held on Monday, passed the resolution to request the Railway Ministry to rename the station.

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Mayor M Anil Kumar told the media that it was Rama Varma XV, the then Maharaja of Cochin, in 1902 who took initiative to bring a railway line to Kochi.

“The erstwhile king of Cochin sold 14 golden caparisons of his family deity to raise the funds for the first railway line to Kochi from Shornur,” Kumar said.

BJP councillor, Sudha Dileep, told PTI that currently the modernisation of the railway station was going on and by the time it is over, the station should be renamed in honour of the erstwhile ruler.

The council’s decision will be informed to the state government, the union government and also the Railway Ministry, she said, adding that they all expect the ministry to accept their request.

The first ever passenger train whistled its way to Kochi on July 6, 1902 on the newly built Shoranur-Cochin railway line.

According to a souvenir published by the Kochi City Corporation earlier, the adequate money was raised by Varma after selling 14 of the 15 gold caparsions of the palace jumbos kept at the famed Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple at Tripunithura here.

Eminent historian M G Sasibhooshan had earlier said that King Rama Varma XV had also paved the way for the Chalakudy forest tramway, constructed for the transportation of lumber and passengers.

He was also the architect of Chalakudy town, Sasibhooshan had pointed out.