TIRUCHY: Even as the Prime Minister has been pitching for introduction of bullet trains, the Railway ministry has come up with a proposal that would raise eyebrows of rails users. On Friday, the Tiruchy division announced that a passenger train would be operated between Karaikudi and Pattukottai from July 1 and that the inaugural run would be on Saturday. While the announcement brought cheer to rail users as it has been six years since the service was scrapped for guage conversion work, the details of the schedule has left them crestfallen.
As per the schedule released by Southern Railway, the Karaikudi-Pattukottai Special Train (Train No. 06856) will leave Karaikkudi at 6 am and reach Pattukottai by 12:30 pm, covering the 84 Km in a gruelling six hours. The journey between the destinations by road would take less than three hours. For the record, the return train (Train No. 06855) would leave Pattukottai at 1 pm and reach Karaikkudi by 7:30 pm.
What is more, the DEMU train will be operated as bi-weekly service for three months on an experimental basis. “It is unclear whom the Railways had in mind while fianlising the timings of the train. In fact, the allotment of this special train reflects the halfhearted effort of the administration to silence the demands of the public,” said passengers.