Quite befittingly for a city where oddball traits coexist with occidental charm, the Puducherry railway station is administered not from Chennai, about 160 km away, but by the Tiruchi Divisional Railway which is nearly 200 km down south.
Perhaps, a mere trifle compared to the other governance nightmare, that is, reaching out every day to three of its enclaves, each falling in a different State - Karaikal in Tamil Nadu, Mahe in Kerala and Yanam in Andhra Pradesh.
If one were to gauge the patronage for the Puducherry railway station these days, it would be difficult to picture this railway line as once being pampered by both the French and the English who were otherwise at great odds with one another. Built by the Pondicherry Railway Company in 1879, the railway line was one of the oldest rail links in the country connecting the port town with the South.
There are only about 17 train services, including weekly and bi-weekly express trains, with the station serving as termini.
A few metres away from either end of the three platforms lie open unguarded spaces that could give security agencies the jitters if at all there is a ‘VIP movement’ this way. The Railway Protection Force has a skeleton unit here. There are no routine screening gadgets such as door-frame metal detector or CCTV cameras for better surveillance.
The station wakes up to an early start with the departure of the Chennai Express at 5.30 a.m. But, a lull sets in after 6 p.m. on most days except on Tuesdays when the New Delhi-Pondicherry Weekly Express arrives at 6.45 p.m.
At present, there are now about as many ATM kiosks outside as there are Passenger Reservation System counters at the station.
“At the moment, there is not enough demand to justify opening another counter,” says Manjula Rangarajan, Divisional Railway Manager, Tiruchi, who was here on Tuesday to inspect ongoing works at the station.
The number of tickets booked at any of the four counters averages well below 180 per eight-hour shift. Ticket bookings at the Unreserved Ticketing System too are below 800 per shift. Officials say that long queues are more a result of an eleventh hour scramble than true demand.
According to the DRM, the station would soon see several improvements. “We are focusing a lot on cleanliness. We have contracts in place for mechanised cleaning of platforms and rag-picking around the premises,” Ms. Rangarajan said.
However, sustaining cleanliness would involve public participation.
In addition to cleanliness maintenance that was outsourced to a private agency, the railways is extending the length of Platform 3 on either end to hold 18-coach and 24-coach long-haul trains and installing water hydrants for refilling water in coaches from the third platform. “The pipes and valves are ready and I am expecting the fitment to be completed in a couple of weeks,” says Ms. Rangarajan.
Work is also progressing on the ‘VIP’ siding utility which will serve as a platform to smaller 10-car DEMU rakes.
Instead of the make-shift toilets that were set up when the regular rest rooms were closed for development works, proper facilities would be established soon, officials say.
