A survey will be conducted to study the passenger load before the Salem railway division would send a proposal to the Railway Board requesting introduction of new trains from Tirupur to southern Tamil Nadu, according to Divisional Railway Manager (Salem) Shubhranshu.
He was reacting to the demands constantly been raised by people in Tirupur knitwear cluster for better train connectivity to places in southern region like Madurai, Virudhunagar, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Nagercoil from where the predominant migrant textile workers in Tirupur come.
Two trains
Presently, only two trains, a fast passenger and an express train (both Coimbatore to Nagercoil), were there for the people from here to travel to southern Tamil Nadu.
Regarding the survey, he told The Hindu that as part of the exercise,
Railways would study how much passengers were presently opting for bus services to travel down to the southern parts of the State in the wake of inadequate number of train services, besides seeking the opinions of trade bodies and people in general.
“In normal case, new trains are allocated if there is enough passenger load for running a train with around 15 bogies,” he said.
On the Erode-Palani new railway line project which did not make any significant progress even though the first allocation of funds was made in 2005, he said that the project was not shelved and added that the works would resume as and when fresh allocations were made.
Mr. Shubhranshu said the goods shed development in Tirupur railway station would be completed within eight months.
Drinking water
Earlier, the DRM inaugurated a drinking water treatment plant set up by the Railways with the support of the Rotary Club of Tirupur East at Tirupur railway station.
The Rs. 7 lakh plant that had been installed was capable of treating 2,000 litres of water per hour.
The treated water can be provided to the passengers at the platform.
People in knitwear cluster have been asking for better train connectivity
