Hundreds of people, including members of various political parties, thronged the Pollachi Railway Station to see the train service resume on the 63km stretch after a gap of more than five years.
The first train was flagged off at 6.15am by C. Mahendiran, MP, and M.K. Muthukarupannasamy, MLA.
People gathered in large numbers at the railway stations at Pushpathur, Madathukulam, Maivadi Road, Udumalpet, and Gomangalam.
Train connectivity to Pollachi and these stations was stopped in 2009 for the conversion of the meter gauge tracks to broad gauge.
The six special trains — three from Pollachi and three to Pollachi — operating from Friday will help people of the town reach Dindigul, Tirunelveli, Karur, Namakkal, Salem, and Chennai at ease. Industrialists expressed the hope that the train connectivity would help in better marketing of coir products.
While there were hundreds of people at the station and the platform, only ten of them obtained a platform ticket. It is learnt that 241 passengers bought tickets to go on the maiden run from Pollachi to Palani and railways earned more than Rs. 4,500 through sale of tickets for the first train.
Palakkad Division railway officials said that gauge conversion work is carried out from Dindigul to Palakkad — covering a distance of 174km — in three phases. The Dindigul to Palani stretch for 57km was already completed and train service between the two stations commenced in 2012.
Railway officials said that the Palani-Pollachi section of broad gauge conversion included construction of four major bridges, 114 minor bridges, 33 level crossings — including 21 manned crossings, 32 curves, and six limited use subways.
Officials said that efforts were under way to make the ticket counter operational at the junction round the clock. Stating that only three special trains are operating from the Pollachi station, officials hinted that these trains would continue operating after the budget.
The officials expressed the confidence that gauge conversion along the Pollachi-Palakkad stretch would be completed by March.
C. Shanmugavelu, MLA; Additional Divisional Railway Manager of Palakkad Division Mohan A. Menon; Deputy Chief Engineer (Gauge Conversion), Podanur, Ramakrishna; and others were present when the train was flagged off.
