MADURAI: Southern Railway has revoked the cancellation of the Tejas Superfast Express train which runs from Madurai to Chennai Egmore and Chennai Egmore to Madurai.
Earlier, the Southern Railway had cancelled the Train no.02613/02614 Tejas Superfast Express train which is plying from Chennai Egmore to Madurai and Madurai to Chennai Egmore from January 5 due to poor patronage of passengers.
The decision of the Railway Board was opposed by the Railway Employees Unions of Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU) and Dakshin Railway Employees Union (DREU). In addition, on December 31, Madurai MP S Venkatesan wrote a letter to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal pointing out the poor patronage of passengers in Tejas express is due to pandemic and also the government's advice to the people to desist frequent travel except for very essential purpose.
Based on the opposition and request from different groups, on January 6, the Railway Board revoked the cancellation and approved the Tejas Superfast Express from January 10.
Madurai MP Venkatesan, SRMU Zonal Secretary J M Rafiq and DREU Zonal Secretary R Sankara Narayanan expressed their gratitude to the Railway Minister.
The train will run six days a week, except Thursday.
Chennai Egmore to Madurai Tejas Superfast Express train will depart at 6 am and will arrive Trichy at 9.55 am; departure from Kodaikanal road at 11.20 am and will reach Madurai Junction at 12.15 pm.
In return direction, train no.02614 Madurai to Chennai Egmore Tejas Superfast Express train will depart from Madurai at 3 pm, arrive Kodaikanal road at 3.28 pm and departure Trichy at 5.05 pm and will reach Chennai Egmore at 9.15 pm on the same day.
At present, Tejas is the only train that reaches Chennai from Madurai within 6 hours 15 minutes.