CHENNAI: With the railway board approving the State government request to resume trains, as many as 13 trains including six overnight ones that connect Chennai with southern and western districts will commence operation on September 7. The trains will run only with reserved coaches and there will be no general class and women reserved coaches. The online reservation for the trains will be thrown open in another two days.
On Thursday, the State government has requested the railways to introduce more train services in a bid to review the economic activity. Acting on this, the railways has proposed to resume six trains - Chennai - Madurai Pandiyan Express, Chennai - Kanniyakumari Express, Chennai - Thoothukudi Pearl City Express, Chennai - Coimbatore Cheran Express, Chennai - Mettupalayam Nilagiri Express and Chennai - Sengottai Silambu Express.
Earlier, the State government had requested to resume the seven special trains operated during lockdown in June. The trains were operated in Coimbatore - Mayiladuthurai, Coimbatore -Katpadi, Villupuram - Madurai, Tiruchy - Nagercoil, Tiruchy - Chengalpattu, Tiruchy - Chengalpattu and Arakkonam -Coimbatore. The railway board has accorded approval for resuming the trains.
The two special trains from Coimbatore which ended at Arakkonam and Katpadi will be extended till Chennai Central, while the specials which operated till Chengalpattu and Villupuram from Tiruchy and Madurai respectively will be extended upto Chennai Egmore, said a railway official.