CHENNAI: The Tambaram-Sengottai special fare train, introduced three months ago amid much fanfare, has been stopped. The delay in completing civic works at the Tambaram terminal has forced the Southern Railway to stop the special service at a time when it is in demand among passengers during this festival season.
With the Central and Egmore railway stations reaching a point of saturation in terms of utilisation of infrastructures such as platforms and coach maintenance, Southern Railway has developed Tambaram as the city’s third terminal for introducing additional trains. After a long delay, two pit-lines and two stabling lines have been constructed for coach maintenance. Subsequently, a special fare train from Tambaram to Sengottai was introduced on September 13.
The day train was operated for five days a week via Chidambaram, Mayiladuthurai, Kumbakonam, Tiruchy, Manamadurai, Aruppukottai and Tenkasi, providing daytime connectivity to central and southern districts.While rail commuters expected the special train to be operated till the introduction of Antyodaya Express, the stoppage of train has come as a shock, that too, during this festival season.
K Sankaran, a native of Sivakasi settled in Chennai and also a regular commuter of Podhigai Express, says that the lone overnight Podhigai Express from Chennai Egmore to Sengottai has seen the highest demand for tickets since introduction.
“As we don’t have additional trains, we book tickets upto Madurai or Tirunelveli, and then go to Sengottai. The introduction of the daytime express train from Tambaram had reduced the ticket demand for night travel. However, now the ticket demand has again gone up and it will be nearly impossible to get tickets till February, 2018,” he says.
The decision has annoyed the commuters of central Tamil Nadu, as the train has provided connectivity during daytime from Chennai to central districts including Mayiladuthurai, Thanjavur and Sivaganga.
The disappointment is also high among the rail commuters of Tirupadiripuliyur (Cuddalore district) as the station was provided the special train’s halt from November 23, but it has been stopped from December 1.
“The southern and central parts of Tamil Nadu have a huge demand for tickets. We expected the special train to run till the railways introduces Antyodaya, a fully unreserved train from Tambaram to Sengottai, announced in the railway time-table. Railways should re-introduce the special train,” urged another regular commuter Krishnan from Perungalathur.
Railway sources said they had introduced the special fare trains only on trial basis. Works to develop the Tambaram third terminal have not been completed, they said.A senior railway official said that as and when demand arose, special trains were operated. “In addition to pit-lines and stabling lines, other civic works including provision of toilets and drinking water on platforms are yet to be completed in Tambaram, which is delaying introduction of regular train services. Besides, there are also operational constraints. If needed, special trains will be introduced during Pongal,” added the official.
Dibrugarh, Guwahati trains to start from Egmore
The Guwahati-Chennai Egmore-Guwahati weekly express and Dibrugarh-Chennai Egmore - Dibrugarh weekly express trains, which were extended upto Tambaram for three months from September, will be operated from Chennai Egmore from January 2018 on wards.