Revival of passenger train services remains a distant dream for residents of the Yellandu coal town, as the British-era railway station with a hoary past continues to lie defunct.
It was in this town that the coal mining industry in the region began, more than a century ago.
In 1871, coal reserves were found near Yellandu by the British regime, which subsequently led to coal mining operations by the Hyderabad (Deccan) Company Limited in late 1880s, sources said.
The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) owes its origin to the Yellandu area, where it came into being as a public limited company in 1920.
The defunct railway station flourished as a major hub for transportation of coal and Yellandu served as the headquarters of the entire coal mining operations.
During the British regime, coal mining officials would commute from Yellandu to Dornakal junction in passenger trains, sources added. The practice continued for several years even after Independence, as SCCL made optimum use of the station to transport coal from its mines spread across the Yellandu region.
Passenger train services were operated between Yellandu and Dornakal by the Indian Railways, to the advantage of residents of the coal mining hub until a decade ago, when service were halted.
Since then, Yellandu has witnessed a series of agitations under the aegis of the “all-party” committee, demanding revival of the passenger train services, but to no avail.
The station has been inoperative for the past one and a half years, rued M. Saraiah, Singareni Collieries Employees Union (SCEU) branch secretary, Yellandu. “It was closed, saying the low revenue from passenger fare did not make operations financially viable, which is not fair,” he said, adding that the town has contributed colossal wealth to the national economy in the form of coal production and freight revenue.
He demanded that the station be revived and passenger train services be reintroduced.
The station has become a ceremonial entity, leaving the town disconnected from the railway network. “Only goods train operations to transport coal from the mines to the coal-consuming units in the State and elsewhere in the country are active,” pointed out Yakaiah, a senior trade union leader and resident of Vinobhanagar.
He insisted that those at the helm should uphold the promise to revive Yellandu’s glory and make the station operational, providing passenger train services to the denizens of the coal town.
“We are compelled to either go to Karepalli or Mahabubabad railway stations to board trains,” deplored a coal miner of the British-era ‘21 incline mine’ in Yellandu.
