Southern Railway proposes 4 intra-state special services for TN

In a letter to the Railway Board dated May 22, the chief passenger transportation manager of the zonal railway has recommended operation of special trains connecting Coimbatore to Mayiladuthurai, Madurai to Villupuram, Tiruchy to Nagercoil and Coimbatore to Katpadi.

The zone has proposed to operate train no 12083/12084 between Coimbatore and Mayiladuthurai as Janshatabdi train. Officials here have recommended utilisation of train no 12635/12636 Chennai –Madurai Vaigai Express as intercity express connecting the temple city and Villupuram, skipping connectivity to corona hotspot Chennai. Train no 22627/22628 Tiruchy– Thiruvananthapuram intercity express has been proposed for operation as intercity special connecting Tiruchy and Nagercoil.

The chief transportation manager of the zone, who sought the board’s approval for operating the trains, has suggested operation of train no 12679/12680 Coimbatore – Chennai intercity as special train connecting the textile city to Katpadi (Vellore). The proposal letter sent to the board indicated that the Chief Minister has written to the Union Railway Minister on May 21 for operating non-AC special trains connecting important stations other than the three in Chennai (Egmore, Central and Tambaram) within Tamil Nadu.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had requested the Centre not to operate trains to Tamil Nadu from other states at least till May 31 owing to the recent spike in coronavirus cases. The Union Railway Ministry had agreed to this, and had excluded Tamil Nadu when it announced operation of 200 special trains across the country from June 1.

Confirming the correspondence between the zone and the Railway Board in this regard, a senior Southern Railway official said they were ready to operate these special trains. “Operation of the trains is plausible. We are already operating Sharmik and special trains. So operating a few special trains is not a big task. (But) the board must approve the train operation,” the official said.