Karaikudi Chamber of Commerce and Industries has requested the railways to introduce train service between Rameswaram and Bengaluru via Karaikudi and Tiruchi and fulfil a long-felt demand of the people of this region. In a letter to Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Railways, a copy of which was made available to the media here, chamber president Muthu Palaniappan and secretary Swamy Dravidamani said that five trains were being operated to Bengaluru via Madurai from places such as Nagercoil, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin but the demand for a train from Rameswaram remained unfulfilled.
They said that the railways could divert at least one train, preferably the train operated on the Tuticorin-Madurai-Bengaluru sector through Aruppukottai, Manamadurai, Karaikudi and Tiruchi. Till the above demands were conceded, the railways could advance the departure timing of Rameswaram-Tiruchi passenger by 40 minutes so that the train would reach Tiruchi by 7.45 pm and served as a link train for Tiruchi-Bengaluru (Train no. 16231) and Tiruchi-Ernakulam (Train no. 16187) express trains, they said.
Considering the increased patronage to the Rameswaram-Coimbatore Express, the railways could operate the train thrice a week, instead of once a week, they suggested.
The Minister could favourably consider the pleas as people in the region had business links with cities such as Bengaluru, Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai, they said adding a large number of tourists and business people also suffered in the absence of direct train services.
