The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nagapattinam, has urged the Southern Railway to introduce daily overnight express between Karaikal and Bengaluru via Nagore, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruchi, Namakkal and Salem. The chamber has appealed to the railways to extend the Palakkad Town-Tiruchi Junction-Palakkad Town (16844/16843) train up to Karaikal via Nagapattinam.
In a representation to Southern Railway General Manager R.N. Singh, chamber president R. Subas Chandren said a large number of devotees travelled to Tirunallar, Velankanni, Nagore, Nagapattinam and Karaikal. But not a single train was available to Madurai and Pollachi besides an overnight express train to Bengaluru causing hardship to the travellers.
The Southern Railway was concentrating to improve freight alone on the stretch between Tiruvarur and Karaikal via Nagapattinam, he said and added that the long-felt demands of the public of this region were not considered for several years. The chamber has urged the railways to extend the Erode-Tiruchi Junction-Erode train (06612/06611) up to Karaikal via Nagapattinam. It has sought the extension of the Madurai-Punalur-Madurai train (16729/ 16730) up to Karaikal via Tiruchi, Thanjavur and Nagapattinam.
In the representation, Mr. Subas Chandren said the level-crossing gate near the Nagapattinam railway station should be replaced with a subway since the gate was being closed frequently for freight movement from Karaikal Port posing hardship to the people of this area. He requested the railway administration to include Nagapattinam and Nagore stations under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme for improvement of these stations and allocate required funds.
