The Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore, Coimbatore Railway Struggle Committee and Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) are planning to organise a series of protests against the Southern Railway’s move to divert trains via Irugur - Podanur, skipping Coimbatore Junction.
Due to platform constraints and time taken by trains to cross Coimbatore Junction, the railways is planning to divert the following pairs of trains via Irugur - Podanur— 22639/22640 Alleppey - Chennai Central, 12625/12626 Thiruvananthapuram Central - New Delhi Super Fast Express, 22503/22504 Kanyakumari - Dibrugarh Express, 22969/22970 Ernakulam - Patna Junction, 22677/22678 Kochuveli - Yeshwantpur Express, 22643-22644 Ernakulam - Patna Express.
Railway sources said that on an average a train takes 40 to 45 minutes to travel through Coimbatore from Podanur to Irugur, whereas the time taken on the Podanur - Irugur route is 10 to 15 minutes.
TPDK leader K. Ramakrishnan and RAAC convenor R. Raveendran said that the Railway’s move to divert trains would be fought tooth and nail.
