The continuing stoppage of local suburban trains including MMTS trains from the lockdown of last year made the Suburban Train Travellers Association approach senior South Central Railway (SCR) executives to immediately start the services taking into consideration the needs of daily wage earners, vendors and general public on Wednesday.
Association general secretary Noor Ahmed Ali submitted memoranda to Assistant General Manager Arun Kumar Jain and senior officials of works, electrical and operations departments, bringing to their notice the woes of suburban passengers living in Medchal, Bolarum and Malkajgiri areas due to lack of a proper public transport system for many years.
It was pointed out that even 'DEMU' services were withdrawn from Jan.1/2019 and the MMTS Phase Two continues to be a non-starter due to the financial constraints and the government not releasing its share of the amount. Even passenger services on these sections have either been converted or cancelled with as many after considerable amounts have been spent on station buildings, extension of platforms, drinking water and toilet facilities.
In this context, Mr. Ali pointed out that Malkajgiri had been an important station right from Nizam State Railway. Many South-bound trains originate in the morning and terminate at the Kacheguda station. But, it is very difficult to reach Kacheguda as there are no connecting local trains from any corner and passengers have to depend on private transport, he said.
Railway authorities can consider running DEMU trains on Medchal-Malkajgiri-Secunderabad section or ‘modify’ the track at Sitaphalmandi to ensure that the trains are run between Sitaphalmandi-Bolarum to avoid waiting at outer signal. The plea was also to arrange halts to Ajanta, Rayalaseema, and Repalle-Kacheguda Express trains at Malkajgiri, the newly converted Kacheguda-Guntur Express can also be considered to be extended up to Medchal.
He also requested running of MMTS trains from Lingampally to Umdanagar to connect to Patancheru and Hyderabad. The demands should be considered sympathetically on humanitarian grounds for providing better, safe and fast public transportation system services for weaker section people.
