Locals worried Tiruvallur stn may miss out on express trains

Locals worried Tiruvallur stn may miss out on express trains

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 21.06.2020

Residents are worried railways will remove stops at Tiruvallur station for express trains as a new policy allows dropping of uneconomical stops to improve punctuality of trains. The system, called zero-based time table, will come into effect from July 1.

At present, only about six trains stop at the station though it is a district headquarters. People have been demanding for more stops for express trains that depart from MGR Central and trains that arrive at MGR Central, in addition to starting trains from the station which sees about one lakh passengers a day.

K Baskar, former member of divisional rail users consultative committee, said: “We are not sure if Tiruvallur will get dropped in the process. Current stops allotted to express trains should not be eliminated at Tiruvallur.”

He added that it may not be easy to consider a stop at Tiruvallur uneconomical because for some express trains, ticket collection may be less at Tiruvallur, but demand for stoppage is high. “For Chennai Central to Mangalore Mail and Chennai to Palakkad express trains collection from reservation may be less because it is coming under pooled quota shared with all intermediate stations up to Jolarpet and that too fewer number of berths. So, Tiruvallur passengers make reservations from Chennai Central.”

A railways official said dropping stops will depend on the trains and needs to be finalized.