Citizen First, a residents’ welfare organisation, has appealed to the Railways to augment infrastructure facilities at the Puducherry railway station.
In a memorandum addressed to the Divisional Railway Manager, Southern Railways, V. Pethaperumal, former minister and patron of Citizen First, said that the Railway Ministry had sanctioned a sum of ₹70 crore for a coach maintenance yard and to develop the railway station. But there was no clarity on how the funds were used, the memorandum said.
Similarly, new trains, including intercity superfast trains and electrical mechanical units, between Puducherry and Chennai, were yet to be launched. A large number of domestic and international tourists also visit Puducherry. The Southern Railways had failed to capitalise on the opportunity, the memorandum said.
Mr. Pethaperumal pointed out that Puducherry had a good number of railway reservations and registrations compared to its neighbouring stations. Citizen First has also requested the Southern Railways to introduce more trains from Puducherry to Shirdi via Mantralaya and Puducherry to Thiruvananthapuram via Coimbatore and Palakkad.
The Southern Railways should sanction at least one express train each, for South and North, in the next three months, to meet the growing demand of commuters in the Union Territory. It should also sanction funds and provide the much needed facelift for the Puducherry railway station, he added.
Meanwhile, the maiden heritage run of EIR 21, the world’s oldest working locomotive, was held on Saturday, from the Puducherry railway station to Chinna Babu Samudram. The steam loco, made in 1855, is from the stable of Kitson Thompson and Hewitson Leeds in UK.
The train would ply in the sector on all Saturdays, a railway official said.
