Title - The Hindu : 'Will team up with Revenue Dept. to acquire land'

A delegation of the Coimbatore Railway Struggle Committee, led by Coimbatore MP P.R. Natarajan, which met the Additional General Manager of Southern Railway G. Narayanan on Friday, has promised that it would support the Railway by co-ordinating with the district administration for expediting the land acquisition process.

The delegation also met the Tamil Nadu State Highways Secretary T.K. Ramachandran and Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi, apprising them of the delay in land acquisition. The delegation also included U.K. Sivagnanam, Member of the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee, Krishnakumar of Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore, Rail Activist S. Ravi and Farmers Association Secretary V.P. Elangovan.

The delegation first took up the issue of the delayed gauge conversion on the Podanur – Pollachi section due to acquisition of lands for nearly 7 km. The delegation at its meeting with Mr.Narayanan, thanked the Railways for granting the stoppage of the Yeswantpur – Kannur – Yeswantpur Express, routing of Tirunelveli – Bilaspur – Tirunelveli Weekly Express besides announcement for routing the Chennai – Alleppey – Chennai daily express and Thiruvanantharapuram – Mumbai – Thiruvananthapuram Weekly Express. The delegation that began their efforts asking for 13 pairs of trains for Coimbatore city has now stressed the need for routing four pairs of trains via Coimbatore, namely, Kochuveli – Hubli – Kochuveli Weekly Express to provide connectivity to Belgaum and Davangere areas, Tiruchirapalli – Mangalore – Tiruchirapalli Weekly Express, Chennai – Thiruvananthapuram – Chennai Weekly Express (not even halting at Podanur at present), Puducherry – Mangalore – Puducherry Weekly Express (this would provide the first ever connectivity with Puducherry).

When the delegation pointed out the delay or the slow pace of gauge conversion between Podanur and Pollachi and also the pace of ROB and RUB works, Mr.Narayanan stated that there were no fund constraints and the delay was only due to land acquisition. The delegation promised to co-ordinate with the officials in the district administration to speed up the process.

When the subject of quality of water supplied to passengers and also the quantity supplied at Coimbatore Junction came up, Mr.Narayanan reportedly told the delegation that the Coimbatore Corporation should resolve the problem of inadequate supply of Siruvani water to the station. With regard to ROB and RUB, the delegation met the Highways Secretary and apprised him of the delay owing to frequent change in Land Plan Schedule in the acquisition process. When the delegation sought the revival of stations such as Udumandapalayam, Thudialur and Veerapandi, Mr.Narayanan said that it could be done only under the Private – Public Partnership as in the case of Paranur station by Mahindras. The delegation promised to take up the matter with the industries in the region for reviving the defunct stations for the benefit of passengers on the Coimbatore – Mettupalayam section. The AGM also promised to render due consideration to the plea for running a heritage run using a WP class locomotive on the Coimbatore – Mettupalayam section in August this year.

The delegation also pressed for permanency of the Coimbatore – Rameswaram weekly special with enhanced frequency considering the patronage it had received. It sought immediate implementation of the budget announcements such as introduction of Coimbatore – Bikaner Express, Tirunelveli – Dadar Express via Coimbatore and extension of the Mangalore – Palakkad Inter-city Express up to Coimbatore.