Railway committee threatens agitation

Railway committee threatens agitation

Coimbatore Railway Struggle Committee has threatened to stage a black flag agitation in front of Coimbatore Railway Station on February 25 at 4 p.m., if the announcement on introduction of Coimbatore – Bengaluru overnight daily express train fails to find a mention in the Railway Budget presented that day.

A meeting of the committee was held on Monday to prepare pre-railway budget expectations of Coimbatore and was chaired by former MP P.R. Natarajan and attended by G.K. Nagaraj of Kongunadu Jananayaka Katchi, and R. Raveendran of RAAC.

The meeting resolved to urge the Railway Ministry to introduce a daily overnight express train to Bengaluru from Coimbatore. At present, people are dependent on the meagre quota of seats available in three passing-through trains or they had to travel by a day-time train. As a result, more than 60 omni buses are thriving on this route collecting exorbitant fares.

The committee also sought to speed up Podanur – Pollachi gauge conversion works to restore the Western Tamil Nadu’s connectivity with the South, besides revival of old defunct stations, Chettipalayam and Koilpalayam, on this section, and increase in frequency of Coimbatore – Mettupalayam passenger train service and Coimbatore – Rameswaram weekly express.

Source:The Hindu