Restart Palakkad-Chennai train soon, Pollachi MP tells Southern Railway

COIMBATORE: Pollachi MP K Shanmuga Sundaram has requested the Southern Railway general manager, John Thomas, to restart the Chennai-Palakkad-Chennai Express, the only direct train connecting Pollachi and Palani regions with the state capital.
In a letter, the MP urged the official to operate the train to at least Pollachi and back until the pandemic recedes. The move comes after several passenger welfare and industrial associations demanded resumption of the train service.
“There are only limited buses to Chennai from Pollachi and Palani and they are running packed with scant regard for maintaining social distancing, which is unsafe in this time of contagion.So, please restore a train service to Chennai from Pollachi,” Shanmuga Sundaram said in the letter.
Many organizations, including the Pollachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, have been pressing for resumption of the train service from at least Pollachi, as it covers Udumalpet, Palani, Dindigul, Namakkal, Salem and Katpadi on the way to Chennai.
B Mohanraj, secretary, Pollachi Train Passengers’ Welfare Association, said, “Since it is a daily overnight train, it is convenient for people and businessmen from the region to travel to Chennai for work and return without wasting a day. Now, people from Udumalpet and Pollachi have to travel two to three hours to Coimbatore to catch a train.”
The MP has also requested the railways to set up a ticket booking counter at Madathukulam station and allow stoppage for the Palakkad-Chennai Express and Thiruvananthapuram-Madurai Amirtha Express at the station for a minute.
“If our request is heeded, it would provide a low-cost, safe public transport to migrant workers, students and employees of Madathukulam town and surrounding areas,” Shanmuga Sundaram said.
Madathukulam is the headquarters of Madathukulam taluk with 11 village panchayats and home to 12 paper manufacturing units, textile mills, dairy farms, poultry farms and dyeing units, among others. Presently, only Palakkad-Tiruchendur and Coimbatore-Madurai trains stop there.