S Rly plans to run day train from Chennai to Madurai
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com
Chennai:13.10.2018
Southern Railway proposes to run a day train from Chennai Egmore or Tambaram to Madurai on the lines of Shatabdi Expresses. Chief operations manager S Anantharaman said at a press meet on Friday, “The train will reach Madurai in the evening. We proposed this, but it has to be accepted by Railway Board.”
At the meet, chaired by general manager R K Kulshrestha, officials declined to give the date when the train would be announced.
This was in response to a question on the lack of new trains to Madurai and other southern districts despite the lines from Chennai being doubled in April. Since the work is completed, more trains can be run, especially during the day, officials said.
Following the increase in bus fares, people have begun moving to trains, but there is only one day-time service to Madurai, which is the Vaigai Express, while the Pandian Express is an overnight service, they added.
There are a few other trains like Guruvayur Express , Tiruchendur Express and Kanyakumari Express but they don’t terminate at Madurai. Special trains are also regularly run to Madurai, but passengers have repeatedly demanded a fresh regular service, saying there is a huge demand.
“We welcome this news. But officials should also consider running two more overnight trains to Kanyakumari. Private buses on that stretch often charge excessively despite huge demand for trains on the same route,” said J Soosairaj, secretary of Tamil Nadu Southern Districts Rail Passengers Association.
Southern Railway has been facing several other constraints in running more trains on the stretch. “We need more terminal capacity as well as new coaches. Tambaram Railway Station was commissioned as a third terminal recently and it can be used,” Anantharaman said. Another official said Southern Railway was also looking at having terminals in a few southern districts to resolve the issue.
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com
Chennai:13.10.2018
Southern Railway proposes to run a day train from Chennai Egmore or Tambaram to Madurai on the lines of Shatabdi Expresses. Chief operations manager S Anantharaman said at a press meet on Friday, “The train will reach Madurai in the evening. We proposed this, but it has to be accepted by Railway Board.”
At the meet, chaired by general manager R K Kulshrestha, officials declined to give the date when the train would be announced.
This was in response to a question on the lack of new trains to Madurai and other southern districts despite the lines from Chennai being doubled in April. Since the work is completed, more trains can be run, especially during the day, officials said.
Following the increase in bus fares, people have begun moving to trains, but there is only one day-time service to Madurai, which is the Vaigai Express, while the Pandian Express is an overnight service, they added.
There are a few other trains like Guruvayur Express , Tiruchendur Express and Kanyakumari Express but they don’t terminate at Madurai. Special trains are also regularly run to Madurai, but passengers have repeatedly demanded a fresh regular service, saying there is a huge demand.
“We welcome this news. But officials should also consider running two more overnight trains to Kanyakumari. Private buses on that stretch often charge excessively despite huge demand for trains on the same route,” said J Soosairaj, secretary of Tamil Nadu Southern Districts Rail Passengers Association.
Southern Railway has been facing several other constraints in running more trains on the stretch. “We need more terminal capacity as well as new coaches. Tambaram Railway Station was commissioned as a third terminal recently and it can be used,” Anantharaman said. Another official said Southern Railway was also looking at having terminals in a few southern districts to resolve the issue.
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