RailEnquiry

KANYAKUMARI: Rail users in the district have urged the railway authorities to operate daily trains from Kanyakumari to Hyderabad through Tirunelveli and Madurai, which, according to them would benefit nearly 15 districts in the state. They further said that the operation of such train would help a large number of people employed in Hyderabad and also increase the inflow of tourists.

The Kanyakumari District Railway Users’ Association (KKDRUA) has proposed the extension of 12603/12604 Chennai – Hyderabad – Chennai Express to Kanyakumari which will meet their demand.

According to S R Sriram, president of the association, Kanyakumari district is provided with connectivity to all major cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore through daily train services and destinations like New Delhi, Howrah, Jammu Tawi through weekly train services. However, the important connectivity to Hyderabad is lacking for the region though thousands of people from the region are employed in various fields especially in the IT sector. “We urge the railways to extend the Chennai – Hyderabad -Chennai Express daily to Kanyakumari so that it will serve large number of people. It should be noted that the trains originating from Chennai towards Hyderabad hardly travel 70 km in the state and if extended, it will serve people of 15 districts of the state,” he said.

P Edward Jeni, secretary of the association pointed out that there are many tourist attractions for those travelling from Andhra Pradesh especially the temples in Trichy, Madurai and Kanyakumari. “Even the government of Andhra Pradesh has approached the railways to operate trains to Kanyakumari for the benefit of its people travelling to Kanyakumari,” he mentioned.

S Ravi, a consultant of Intellectual Property Rights in Hyderabad and hailing from the region also seconds the opinion. “There is a craze among the people here about travelling to Kanyakumari and visiting many temples. Besides, the sizeable workforce in IT services in Hyderabad is from Kanyakumari district with educational background. A train service to Kanyakumari from Hyderabad will receive abundant patronage,” he stated.

At present, people who travel to Hyderabad from Kanyakumari district had to go to Chennai through night trains and spend the day in Chennai before boarding the evening trains to Hyderabad. “The direct train will be of great help for thousands of our people from the district who travel to Hyderabad this way,” Jeni said. Recently, the railways started operating a weekly train from Madurai to Kacheguda which has enabled Deccan connectivity for the first time. “In addition to the daily train to Hyderabad, it can also be one more additional train to reach Chennai from the southern districts,” a rail user from Madurai added.