HG-3 downgrade of Singanallur Railway Station causes consternation among travelling public
Hundreds of office-goers and labourers, who used to undertake to and fro travel from the railway station to Tiruppur and Erode prior to the Covid pandemic lockdown, had been demanding stoppages of passenger trains at the station in recent years, after restoration of normal services and stoppages.
The Coimbatore-Nagercoil-Coimbatore (16322/16321) and Palakkad Town-Tiruchi-Palakkad Town (16844/ 16843) trains ceased to stop at these two stations, even after train stoppages were revived in the post-covid phase most of the other stations.
The downgrade from HG-2 to HG-3 categorisation this year was apparently been determined based on the revenue and outward passengers handled.
According to Railway officials, railway stations that handle less than one lakh passengers a year and generate revenue less than or equal to ₹5 lakh are categorised under HG-3. Till last year, the station was categorised under HG-2 implying handling of more than one lakh passengers and generating revenue of less than or equal to three lakh rupees.
According to the travellers, there was no fair play on the part of Railways in curbing the stoppage of the passenger trains and then citing the absence of patronage to downgrade the categorisation.
Battling inflation, the working class are required to spend nearly ₹ 150 a day for to-and-fro expenses towards bus travel in the absence of the train facility which would have costed them just one-sixth of the expenditure.
According to Ganesan of Vellalore, who has been espousing the cause of the affected train travellers, the Railways has not responded positively to several representations in recent years.
The refrain of the Railway authorities is that the stoppages of the passenger trains had to be stopped at these stations after their conversion into express trains.
The passengers, on their part, contend that the demand ought to be analysed objectively, reasoning out that the stoppage of the two trains would only result in additional revenue and optimal utilisation of existing infrastructure.
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