Title - Struggle committee submits demands to railway minister

COIMBATORE: A delegation of Coimbatore Railway Struggle Committee led by local MP P R Natarajan met with Union railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and railway board chairman Vinay Mittal on Thursday and pressed for overnight trains linking Coimbatore with Bangalore. They also demanded immediate rerouting of Kannur-Yeshwantpur Express which skips Coimbatore junction, going via Irugur-Podanur route and additional coaches for Kanyakumari-Bangalore Island express. The minister assured the delegation that the demands would be considered favourably.Apart from Natarajan, the delegation included struggle committee members R Raveendran, S Ravi and Jameel Ahemad. "Rerouting the Yeshvantpur-Kannur daily express via Coimbatore will not only convenience Coimbatore residents but also help those from Mettupalayam and Nilgiris district. The Island Express has only 72 three tier sleepers, ten second ac and 10 third ac berths. This is far from adequate for both Coimbatore and Tirupur,'' said a memorandum submitted by them."Ever since the fully electrified double line between Irugur (IGU) and Coimbatore north (CBF) was completed and commissioned in August 2010, the demand for rerouting 13 trains bypassing Coimbatore has not been given much thought. The double line between Irugur and Coimbatore-Podanur, laid at a cost of Rs60cr must be utilized optimally. Only four of the 13 trains have been rerouted via Coimbatore junction which brings in more than Rs100cr in revenue to Railways, second only to Chennai,'' said the memorandum.The memorandum also pointed out that a few trains including the Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram mail, which used to halt in Coimbatore decades ago, have now got diverted via Irugur-Podanur bypass line, without even halting at Podanur junction.There is a high demand for trains between Coimbatore and places beyond Bangalore towards Hubli. Sericulture farmers and other traders regularly travel between Coimbatore and towns like Davangare and Hiriyur. Unfortunately, the city still does not have direct link to such places."It must be noted that an additional overnight daily train between Coimbatore and Chennai is of in great need. But nobody is sure as to when this would materialize as  Repeated requests have been turned down by railway administration citing various technical reasons. On the other hand the Chennai-Mangalore superfast express operated via Podanur reaches there at midnight (both directions). Due to poor approach and accessibility, the halt at Podanur is no very useful to passengers from Coimbatore. If it is rerouted via Coimbaore, it would not only help residents travelling to Chennai but also to Mangalore," the memorandum said.