A long-standing demand of commuters in Tirupattur district has come to an end as the Chennai - Bengaluru Shatabdi Express will halt at the railway station in Jolarpet town in Tirupattur from Sunday.
As a mark of the event, C.N. Annadurai, Member of Parliament (Tiruvannamalai constituency), K. Devaraji and A. Nallathambi, MLAs for Jolarpet and Tirupattur, flagged off the express train at Jolarpet railway station on Sunday evening in the presence of C.V. Kuppusamy, Station Manager (in-charge). However, a verbal spat broke out between the DMK and the BJP cadre at the railway station over the flagging off of the train. The Jolarpet police pacified the cadre of both the parties.
The stoppage at Jolarpet railway station was a long-pending demand of commuters from big towns like Tirupattur, Vaniyambadi, Ambur, Gudiyatham and Pernambut. “It’s a big relief for the local commuters as they can board the express train on time easily. The train will stop at the station for one minute,” K. Sekar, Station Manager (SM), Jolarpet, told The Hindu.
Prior to the stoppage at Jolarpet, commuters from these towns had to travel to Katpadi railway station, the only station where the Chennai - Bengaluru Shatabdi Express used to halt enroute. As a result, they had to travel to Katpadi railway station, a distance of 86 km from Jolarpet, to board the express train.
Railway officials said that as per schedule, the Shatabdi Express towards Bengaluru will halt at 8.14 p.m. on platform one at Jolarpet railway station. While returning to Chennai, the train will halt at 7.49 a.m. next morning at the station. Depending on availability of the platform, the train will halt at 2 or 4 or 5 platforms during its return to Chennai.
At present, more than 120 express trains halt at Jolarpet railway station every day. On an average, over 30,000 commuters use the railway station daily. Commuters said that many long-distance trains on the route do not halt at the railway station despite repeated requests made to the Southern Railway.
Some of the express trains that do not halt at the railway station, include Vande Bharat Chennai - Coimbatore; Vande Bharat Chennai - Mysore; Trivandrum to Chennai; Madurai - Chennai and Nizamuddin Express. Efforts should be taken to provide a halt to these express trains at Jolarpet railway station, the residents said.
