CHENNAI: To cater to the additional passenger demand from the towns of Central districts in Tamil Nadu including Mannargudi, Thiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, Chidambaram and northern districts Villupuram and Tiruvannamalai, Railways has increased berth quota in weekly trains bound for Chennai, Tirupati and Vijayawada.
According to official sources, from the first week of July, the number of seats for the districts including Mannargudi, Thiruvarur, Mayidalduthurai, Chidambaram and Tirupadripulyur to Chennai in the Mannargudi-Bhagat Ki Kothi Weekly Express has been increased to 285 from 141.The berths allocation quota has been changed from pooled quota to general quota to provide better connectivity with Chennai on Mondays.
In addition to Mannai Express, the region will have another train connectivity at least for one day with additional berths.Similarly, the remote location (RL) quota between five central district towns and Vijayawada in the Mannargudi-Bhagat Ki Kothi weekly train has been upgraded as pooled quota. The number of berths earmarked upto Vijayawada have been increased from 40 to 205.
The sleeper berth quota from Central districts upto Nagpur, Ramagundam, Warangal and Itarsi has been increased from 35 to 165. In the Mannargudi-Tirupati Tri-weekly Express, all stations between Mannargudi and Katpadi including Chidambaram, Cuddalore Port, Villupuram, Tirukovilur, Tiruvannamalai, Polur, Arani Road and Vellore have been brought under general quota for booking tickets upto Tirupati. As many as 422 seats have been earmarked under general quota from the first week of May. Currently rail passengers from Tiruvannamalai to Tirupati in the triweekly express have got 30 seats under the RL quota.