RailEnquiry

The new trains from Tuticorin railway station, announced in the railway budgets, have not been introduced, much to the disappointment of rail users, said M. Piramanayagam, secretary, Tuticorin District Passengers’ Welfare Association, here on Thursday.He said that these train services must be started soon for the benefit of passengers.A day train service (Tuticorin – Chennai link express) was announced in the budget and passengers were eagerly waiting for the service.Vivek Express from Tuticorin to Dwaraka, a weekly service, announced in 2011 railway budget, has not been started. The absence of pit line in Tuticorin railway station was cited as the reason for not introducing the train. Despite the pit line work having been completed a month ago, the Vivek Express was still being operated from Madurai.Only the Tuticorin-Coimbatore link express was being operated from July 2011 as per the budget announcement, Mr.Piramanayagam said.

He said that the journey time of Tuticorin-Mysore-Tuticorin Express services must be reduced. The train, being operated via Dindigul, Karur, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Hosur and Bengaluru could be diverted to run via the shorter route of Karur-Namakkal- Rasipuram-Salem. Passengers could save one-and-a-half hours of journey time this way, he said.