The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the Southern Railway to halt all trains passing through Madurai at the Koodal Nagar Railway Station.
In a statement issued here, chamber senior president S. Rethinavelu said that to facilitate the renovation of railway tracks at Madurai Junction, Pandiyan and Vaigai express trains were now departing and terminating at Koodal Nagar Railway Station till October 20.
An exponential increase in passenger arrival and departure was congesting the Madurai Junction and creating bottlenecks in the station. As such, he said that the best solution was to create the requisite infrastructure at the Koodal Nagar Railway Station and direct all express trains passing through the city to make a stop-over.
This move would immensely benefit a large number of railway passengers and nearly half the city’s population resided in the northern parts. This initiative would also help reduce the traffic near Madurai Junction.
As of now, Mr. Rethinavelu said, only a few trains such as the day time Guruvayur-Chennai Express had a stop-over at Koodal Nagar Railway Station. The Southern Railway must take immediate steps to ramp up the infrastructure at the station and also repair the approach road to the station, which was in a dilapidated condition.
The trade body also called for strengthening the security at the station and augment the lights in the station. The Chamber also demanded that the Master Plan for development of Madurai include an approach road leading from the Rail Over Bridge in Alanganalur Road behind Fatima College directly to the Koodal Nagar Railway Station.
