Karur-Namakkal-Salem train remains a mirage
Got your Exam Results? - Get Information on Courses, Career Counseling & More here. Sign Up Now Quikr.com/Free-Classifieds
The Hindu
The Karur-Salem broadgauge line that has been cleared for passenger traffic. Photo: R. M. Rajarathinam
Everything is ready, but train service not introduced
A sumptuous feast is ready to be served. The dining table has been neatly laid out.
The seated guests, hungry though, are eagerly waiting for the delicacies.
Even the pre-meal prayer is through. But then there is no sign of the food reaching the table.
Forced
to wait at the table, the people of Karur are aghast at the delay in
operating passenger trains on the new Karur-Namakkal-Salem broadgauge
track.
The Salem Railway Division authorities have
been making noises about passenger train services being operated “soon”
on the new track that has been certified by the Commissioner of Railway
Safety, S.K. Mittal, following his mandatory inspection for three days
in the last week of February. He said that the services could be
operated probably in March itself.
He had said that
he would submit his report to the Railway Board in a week and it was
only a matter of time before the services were operated.
Several
officials, including Divisional Railway Manager Sujatha Jayaraj, have
been announcing that passenger services would be run on the new track
that would put Namakkal on the railway map. But nothing has moved so
far.
A fortnight ago, some officials on a routine
inspection visit to Karur Junction said passenger services would be
operated from the first week of May.
“The Railway
Budget was conspicuously mum on the opening of the new track although
some trains were announced and they were expected to be operated on the
new line. We thought that with the mandatory CRS inspection ending on a
high note, services would be operated soon. March and April came and
went but there is no sign of trains being run on the new track. We could
not fathom what went wrong,” says Train Travellers’ Welfare Association
president S. Annadurai.
“The officials have now said
that trains would be operated from May first week but there were no
preliminary activities so far and we now hope they would run them at
least before the end of May,” he says.
The
Chennai-Salem-Karur-Palani daily express, extension of Mangalore-Tiruchi
Express to Puducherry, and other services announced in the budget await
the formal opening of the track section to passenger trains.
Those demands could be met only with the opening of the track to passenger trains, Mr. Annadurai said.
The
long-drawn project was completed a few months ago and the authorities
were allowing goods trains to pass through the stretch that would reduce
the travel between Karur and Salem by 35 km besides saving an hour.
An
unseen political hand delaying the project, track not being certified
as worthy enough, railways not completing the formalities for operating
passenger trains, and rank disdain for the region on the part of the
officials are some of theories doing the rounds for the delay.
Whatever
be the case the Railways must come clean on the itinerary of
operations, say the commuters. Traders and public of the beneficiary
districts had been waiting impatiently for services to be operated on
the new track for pretty long a time and when the authorities had
claimed that all work had been completed, nothing except the odd goods
train was moving much to the chagrin of the rail users.
No comments:
Post a Comment