Title - A ‘missing link’ established at Virudhunagar

The ‘missing link’ between Virudhunagar and Manamadurai has been finally established with the conversion of the metre gauge railway track into broad gauge.Commissioner of Railway Safety Sathish Kumar Mittal began an inspection of the track from here on a trolley along with senior railway officials on Thursday. Regular train service will start on the track in a few months after he certifies its safety.With this, people going from Rameswaram to Kanyakumari can avoid touching Madurai. Similarly, people can go from Kanyakumari to Rameswaram and reach Chennai without going to Madurai. It will save a lot of time for passengers. Goods trains can also be diverted through this route so that over-utilisation of Madurai line can be minimised. It will also help maintain timings of all trains.However, more remains to be done. The most vital is the ‘missing link’ to the fourth platform at the junction. The overbridge is now extended only up to the third platform. The newly laid track is on the fourth platform but passengers do not have access to the platform. Till the foot overbridge is extended, no passenger train could be operated on this new track. The first three tracks are utilised to the maximum.

Only one counter

The railway station has only one counter to issue unreserved tickets for all the trains. Express trains such as the ones from Madurai to Shencottah, Mysore to Tuticorin, Tirunelveli to Erode/Mayavaram and Nagercoil to Mumbai run between 8.00 a.m. and 9.00 a.m. Likewise, trains such as those from Madurai to Shencottah, Shencottah to Madurai, Tuticorin to Mysore, Chennai to Guruvayur, Erode/Mayavaram to Tirunelveli run between 5.30 p.m. and 6.15 p.m.

Besides, special trains operated from Tirunelveli to Jummudavi (two days a week) and from Nagercoil to Mumbai (three days a week) are passing through this station.

The staff manning the single counter could not handle the large number of passengers waiting to board these trains. There has been a demand for opening a counter on the eastern side, where about 50 per cent of town’s population lives. They have to take a circuitous route and travel two to three more kilometres to reach the station in the absence of an overbridge and a counter.

If the railway level-crossing is closed, the plight of passengers becomes worse.