Thiruvananthapuram: Passengers on the Kollam-Punalur railway route have urged the Railways to operate more unreserved trains to cater to daily commuters. The Kollam-Sengottai railway passengers association recently met with Madurai division officers and submitted a petition requesting frequent passenger train services between Kollam and Punalur, as there are currently no services for nearly nine hours during the day.
Demands for Additional Services
Dipu Ravi, a representative of the association, stated that the Railways should introduce a Kollam-Erode train via Palani and resume the Tambaram-Thiruvananthapuram North express train to fully utilize the recently electrified route. He suggested that more MEMU services could be operated between Kollam and Punalur, though extending them along the ghat section to Sengottai may be challenging.
Schedule Changes Requested
The association has also demanded that the Railways adjust the arrival time of the Madurai-Punalur Express at Punalur. The ideal time convenient for passengers would be 9:30 am, as opposed to the current schedule of 10 am, he added.
Although the route was converted to broad gauge about eight years ago and was recently electrified, the Railways have yet to run an adequate number of trains to meet the increased travel demand between Kollam, Sengottai, and Tenkasi.
