Rail users have once again raked up demand for making Koodal Nagar railway station, a second terminal for Madurai city. Trade bodies and residents of Koodal Nagar have been demanding for more than a decade to promote this station “as facilities at Madurai junction has reached the saturation point and another terminal will meet the needs of the expanding city.”
“The railways should chalk out an action plan before Madurai junction gets choked,” says 85-year-old consumer activist K. Muthiah. A resident of Railar Nagar, Mr. Muthiah says, during his morning walk, he often witnesses Pandian Express and other south-bound trains making unscheduled and prolonged halts at Koodal Nagar in the morning for want of signal clearance from Madurai junction. “If the halts are regularised, it could benefit the passengers,” he says.
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Echoing his view, Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industries senior president S. Rethinavelu says, “A stoppage at Koodal Nagar for all south-bound trains, as provided at Mambalam in Chennai, will benefit residents from city areas north of Vaigai river. Once a good number of passengers alight at Koodal Nagar, vehicular traffic on arterial roads in city could be decongested,” he says.
“Koodal Nagar railway station is closer than Madurai junction to Anaiyur, Krishnapuram Colony, Iyer Bungalow, K. Pudur, Tiruppalai, Anna Nagar and K.K. Nagar. People need not use the busy Alagarkoil Road, Goripalayam, Simmakkal and North Veli Street to reach the junction and reach Koodal Nagar with ease,” he says.
Two pairs of passenger trains running between Madurai and Dindigul, one pair of Madurai-Villuppuram passenger train and Chennai-Guruvayur Express (only south-bound train) stop at Koodal Nagar every day. Railway sources say about 120 season ticket holders use this station to reach various destinations between Madurai and Dindigul. Otherwise only a very few passengers use this station. But Mr. Muthiah says if popular trains stop here, there would be a better patronage.
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The station has two platforms with partial shelters and a foot overbridge. It has drinking water and toilet facilities. Vacant space in front of the railway station (eastern side) is used as a free parking lot.
Started with fanfare
The station came into existence after the goods yard from Madurai junction was shifted to Koodal Nagar in 1992. There was a dedicated yard for Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which lost patronage over the years.
After Food Corporation of India also decentralised its operations by moving its stock handling function to Ramanathapuram, Aruppukottai, Pudukottai and Manamadurai, utilisation of Koodal Nagar goods yard is also limited.
Except for the core operational area, the railway station’s peripheries are full of wild growth and used as a dump for junk materials by automobile workshops. The defunct CONCOR yard has become a haven for anti-social elements and the drunks.
“When Vaigai Express and Pandian Express were terminated at Koodal Nagar railway station owing to yard remodelling work, additional facilities such as bus services were made available for three months. And, it worked well even with limited resources. If officials try to repeat it with more facilities like better approach roads on either side, landscaping, lighting facility and regular bus services, passengers are sure to make use of the station,” A. Rengarajan, a resident of Koodal Nagar, says.
Rail users want the railways to provide halt for all day-time passenger trains and express trains at Koodal Nagar. “If all passenger trains and express trains such as Tiruchi-Thiruvananthapuram Intercity and Guruvayur-Chennai Express (north-hound), stop here, the station will get good patronage,” Mr. Muthiah avers.
“With only six platforms, Madurai junction has no scope for expansion. It is only logical for the Southern Railway to shift some of its operations to Koodal Nagar. Madurai junction is bound to become busier when the gauge conversion work on the Bodinaickanur line gets over,” he says.
Former Divisional Railway Manager Sunil Kumar Garg had said that efforts were being taken to make Koodal Nagar station a satellite railway station. Mr. Rengarajan hopes that if Minister for Cooperation Sellur K. Raju, under whose constituency the railway station falls, and Madurai MP R. Gopalakrishnan, who too lives close to Koodal Nagar station, take earnest steps, they can expedite the railway’s proposal.