Tamil Nadu

PDK flays Railway Minister

Coimbatore: The Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (PDK) has flayed the Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad for the inordinate delay in the operation of the Coimbatore - Nagercoil overnight express train.

The general secretary of PDK, K. Ramakrishnan, in a statement condemning the Railway Minister for neglecting the interests of rail passengers in Coimbatore region pointed out that the introduction of the Coimbatore - Nagercoil overnight express train was announced in the Union Railway Budget in February 2007.

The announcement for the train also came only after series of protests and representations.

Mr. Ramakrishnan pointed out that a large number of people from Southern Districts such as Thoothukudi, Tiruneveli and Kanyakumari both in Coimbatore and Tirupur either in search of employment or owing to business activities.

The entire population had to bank only on the bus services in the absence of an overnight train service. This resulted in enormous pressure on road traffic because of the need for operation of more bus services towards Southern districts.

To add fuel to the fire, the Southern Railway even before introducing the overnight Express train had chosen to terminate the metre gauge services for taking up the gauge conversion work.

This resulted in the termination of the trains to Madurai. Pointing out that as many as 35 special trains were operated in Bihar for a conference of the party headed by the Railway Minister, Mr. Ramakrishnan said that it was unfortunate introduction of a single train was being held back citing the scarcity of coaches as a stock reply.

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