RailEnquiry

Officials of the South-West Railway were in for a surprise on Monday morning when a group of commuters walked into their office and offered them sweets. The commuters, who were from Tumkur, were at the office to thank the railway officials for running a special train between Tumkur City and Bangalore. About 4,000 passengers commute from Tumkur to Bangalore every day. Though about 22 trains ply on the route, most passengers depend on either the push-pull train (trains that can be driven from either end) from Arsikere or Sholapur express trains. Commuters who travel to Bangalore for work prefer Sholapur express as it reaches Tumkur at 8 am, as the train from Arasikere reaches early in the morning.When the timings of Sholapur express was changed to 6.30 am in May, a group of commuters, among the many inconvenienced by the new schedule, decided to campaign for a special train. They distributed pamphlets among other passengers and called for a meeting on June 2. As many as 600 passengers turned up for the meeting and their signatures, contact numbers and address, along with that of about 600 others were collected. In addition, a forum called Tumkur-Bangalore employee daily commuters was created following the meeting.

Members of the forum, led by a government employee BH Ramakumari, met top railway officials in Bangalore and briefed them about the 25,000 students, government and private sector employees and others travellers, including 4,800 seasonal ticket holders, between the two cities who desperately needed  a special train from Tumkur.

The delegation met Union railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge in Bangalore on July 9 to press for the demand. As they did not get an assurance from the minister then, members of the forum approached Kharge during his visit to Tumkur railway station on June 11. Kharge agreed to their demand and it was fulfilled in a span of about two months.

On Monday, the passengers were at the South-West Railway office in Bangalore to celebrate the success of their efforts.

Karnam Ramesh, employee of a private firm, who was in the forefront of the campaign, said the officers who were given sweets exclaimed that they had provided new trains to many other places as well, but none had come forward to thank them.

Ramesh explained that their demand was met as they managed to convince the railway department and political leaders about the viability of plying a new train in the route.

“We never wanted the campaign to be violent. We had decided that none of us would stop trains or pelt stones. It was decided to approach the department in a right manner. In addition, top officers of the railway department helped us throughout the movement,” he said.