There is growing demand for more facilities at the Vellayil railway station in view of the increase in number of travellers using the station.
With more and more residential flats and individual housing units coming up in the area, there has been a spurt in the number of travellers using the station. However, railway authorities are yet to respond to representations from local people to improve facilities at the station.
Rail passengers point out that increasing the length of the platform at the station is an urgent necessity.
As the platform is not long enough, four or five compartments of the trains stopping at the station lie outside the platform so that travellers have to get into the train from amid green vegetation and thick bushes outside the platform. The station is also not properly lit and does not have enough seating arrangement.
The people have demanded stops for Mangalore-Coimbatore and Coimbatore-Mangalore trains (train numbers 56323 and 56324) at Vellayil. The facility for getting tickets to all stations of Southern Railways from Vellayil station and a foot overbridge to facilitate movement between platforms are among the other long-standing demands.
