Title - Madurai railway division cancels more passenger trains on Sundays

Madurai railway division has cancelled the operation of 17 passenger trains on Sundays and one passenger train on Saturdays from August 31 to December 1. Though the authorities said the decision was necessitated due to periodical maintenance of tracks and bridges across the division, the railway workers unions claimed the trains are being cancelled due to acute shortage of running staff, including loco pilot (LP) and assistant loco pilot (ALP).

The division had earlier cancelled the operation of 14 passenger trains included in the present list on the same grounds from May 26 to August 25. The authorities insist that the cancellation won't inconvenience the public as passenger trains are mostly patronised by students and office- goers. For this very season, the authorities claim that operating passenger trains is unviable on Sundays.

V Ramkumar, working committee member of Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU), said the division is crippled with acute crew shortage. Though the division had recently recruited 30 more ALPs, a good number of LPs retired from the service recently, he said. "The division has started operating many new trains and many more new trains announced in the budget are yet to be operated. The crew shortage will only worsen in the coming days because the division has failed to forecast the manpower requirement properly," Ramkumar said.

"Periodical maintenance cannot be reason for the cancellation as such works are rarely carried out on Sundays," he added.

S Kalayanaraman, divisional president of All-India Station Master's Association, speculated that the cancellation of passenger trains may continue till June next year. It is then the newly recruited cadre is expected to join the service. "There is a severe shortage of running staff and station masters as well. Besides, Sunday is a packed day with many special express trains," he pointed out. Divisional secretary of Dakshin Railway Employee Union (DREU), R Sankaranarayanan, also spoke on the same lines, but said it is not financially feasible to run passenger trains on Sundays. "Many of these passenger trains are beneficial to office-goers and students and they don't enjoy much patronage on Sundays. Operating a passenger train incurs heavy cost on fuel since the revenue generated out of it is minimal," he said.

However, railway officials ruled out staff shortage as the reason for cancellations. When contacted additional divisional railway manager, V Ajithkumar, said the division has recently inducted 36 ALPs and they are being trained at various levels. "There is staff shortage in the division but not alarming enough to suspend train operations. There are maintenance works to be done in the division. These passenger trains are carefully studied on their patronage and handpicked so that the passengers are not affected in any way while the maintenance works are carried out," he said.

Passenger trains cancelled from August 31st to December 1st

Train No 56703 Trichy- Dindigul passenger

Tr No 56704 Dindigul- Trichy passenger

Tr No 56707 Dindigul- Madurai passenger

Tr No 56708 Madurai- Dindigul passenger

Tr No 56774 Dindigul- Palani passenger

Tr No 56773 Palani-Dindigul passenger

Tr No 56798 Sengottai- Tirunelveli passenger

Tr No 56799 Tirunelveli-Sengottai passenger

Tr No 56828 Tirunelveli-Tuticorin passenger

Tr No 56827 Tuticorin-Tirunelveli passenger

Tr No 56763 Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur passenger

Tr No 56766 Tiruchendur - Tirunelveli passenger

Tr No 76807 Trichy-Manamadurai passenger

Tr No 76808 Manamadurai-Trichy passenger

Tr No 76830 Karaikkudi-Trichy passenger

Tr No 56803 Tirunelveli-Sengottai passenger

Tr No 56802 Sengottai-Tirunelveli passenger

* Tr No 76830, 56802 & 56803 were new additions after 14 trains were previously cancelled from May 25 to August 25.

* TrNo 76831 Trichy-Karaikudi passenger is cancelled on Saturdays from August 31 to December 1

New trains introduced in the division lately

Silambu wekly express from Manamadurai to Chennai

Link Express from Tuticorin to Chennai Egmore

Madurai-Dindigul passenger (extended to Palani)

Madurai - Kollam passenger (extended to Punalur)

A pair of passenger trains between Tirunelveli and Sengottai


New trains announced in the budget and yet to be operated

Nagercoil-Bangalore daily Express

Palani-Tiruchendur Passenger

Palani-Chennai daily express