Chendur Express halt at Papanasam revived

Rail commuters of Papanasam had a pleasant surprise on Tuesday when they noticed the revival of the stoppage at their railway station for the Chendur Express from December 3.

The revival of stoppage for Chennai Egmore-Tiruchendur Express (16105/16106) at Papanasam came to light through the modified train schedule for 16105/16106 train services in the online passenger ticket reservation portals.

Inquiries reveal that the Railway Board’s decision to revive the stoppage for the up and down services of Chendur Express was the fall out of the relentless pursuance of this demand by the Train Passengers’ Association, Papanasam and the Thanjavur District Railway Users’ Association with the Indian Railways through the former and sitting Lok Sabha representatives, served/ serving Rajya Sabha members and the members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from the Delta region and the State presidents of National parties in Tamil Nadu since the revival of the passenger train services after the novel coronavirus pandemic period.

Thanking the peoples’ representatives in ensuring the Papanasam commuters’ demand turn a reality, the TPA, Papanasam and the trader’s body at Papanasam in a statement expressed their gratitude to the Railways Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and the Southern Railway officials for conceding the demand for revival of the stoppage for Chendur express at Papanasam positively.

However, sources close to the Southern Railway administration pointed out that the stoppage for Chendur Express at Papanasam had now been “provided on an experimental basis for six months from December 3, 2022” only. The commercial wing had been instructed to “keep a close watch on the sale of tickets at Papanasam” for the Chendur Express and file a report within five months for forwarding the same to the Railway Board for a “review”.

Normally, the Chendur Express will have a rake composition of three air-conditioned coaches, 8 or 9 second-class sleeper coaches, three or four unreserved second-class sitting coaches and two SLRs depending on the advance ticket booking status, they pointed out.

It may be recalled that the stoppage at Papanasam for Chendur Express was withdrawn citing “poor customer patronage” when the passenger train services were revived after the COVID-19 pandemic.