The Railway Board assures to restore the train services at the Pollachi Junction to pre-broad gauge level within two to three months, confirmed the office of Pollachi Lok Sabha MP K. Shanmuga Sundaram.
Earlier this week, K. Shanmuga Sundaram met the Chairman of the Railway Board V. K. Tripathi on the poor maintenance of Pollachi Junction after gauge conversion and to develop Podanur Junction. The Chairman told Sundaram that the restoration will be done in a few months and that the patronage will be observed for a year. If it is found successful, then the services will continue, Tripathi said, according to sources from Rail Bhawan.
In his letter, on Wednesday, the minister said to counter Coimbatore Junction traffic, Podanur must be expanded as a satellite station. He said the Pollachi Junction should be developed alongside Podanur Junction it caters to passengers of Pollachi, Anamalai, Valparai, Kinathukadavu, Udumalpet and Madathukulam.
Meanwhile, DMK leader and Nilgiris MP A. Raja wrote to the Railways Minster Ashwini Vaishnaw regarding the revival of services from Mettupalayam and Coimbatore to Madurai, Rameshwaram, Tenkasi etc.
Both elected representatives listed demands to the Centre including restoration of the express from Rameswaram to Coimbatore via Madurai and Palani, weekly train from Tirunelveli to Mettupalayam via Tenkasi and Coimbatore and Madurai to Coimbatore Intercity Express via Palani. They also requested to increase the frequency of Tirunelveli to Mettupalayam services via Tenkasi and Coimbatore.
Earlier in July, MP P.R Natarajan said that he would request the Centre to consider re-routing of the Tiruchendur train from Pollachi to Mettupalayam via Kinathukaduvu and Coimbatore.
It is to be noted that railway activists have been repeatedly demanding this. “We ask the government to restore the successful train services operational during the meter gauge era,” said Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (DRUCC) member J. Sathish.
