Coimbatore: The Union Railway Budget has evoked mixed response from various associations in city. While a number of announcements in the budget have been welcomed, the reactions never failed to highlight some of the long pending demands that have not been conceded.

The Rajasthani Sangh has thanked the Union Minister and the Union Minister of State for Railways for extending the Jaipur - Chennai Express up to Coimbatore. This would help the migrant community from north India that had settled in large numbers in and around Coimbatore. Direct train connectivity towards Jaipur was a long pending need, the president of the Association, Ramesh Bafna, said.

Fares slashed

The vice-president of the Citizen's Voice Club (CVC), C.M. Jayaram, thanked the Railway Minister for slashing upper class fares. But he expressed concern that the conversion of a number of express trains into super fast trains would mean more fare for the travelling public. He thanked the Ministry for taking up the much-awaited gauge conversion between Coimbatore and Dindigul, an island metre gauge section in this region. He pointed out that as against the total project outlay of close to Rs. 300 crores, the meagre budgetary sanction would be inadequate for significant progress.

The completion of this project would enable better and adequate connectivity for Coimbatore with the southern districts and ease pressure on road traffic, he added.

For migrant workforce

Similarly, the long pending demand for an overnight express train to southern districts for the migrant workforce was silently sidelined. He also flayed the railway administration for the inordinate delay in completion of the rail overbridges at Ondipudur and Sungam.

Extension of Jan Shatabdi Express from Thanjavur to Kumbakonam and reversal of its departure and arrival timings to make it more passenger-friendly announced in the last railway budget was fulfilled even after a year, he pointed out. The demand for extending the Palakkad - Thiruvananthapuram overnight express up to Coimbatore for the benefit of Keralites here had not materialised.

There was no concrete assurance or commitment on improvements to platforms, especially the narrow staircase towards platforms 3 and 4, he said.

Demands unresolved

The Secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, K. Kathirmathiyon, pointed out that some of the long-pending grievances of Coimbatore continued to remain unresolved.

The demand for a daily overnight train to Bangalore was not met. Coimbatore was foregoing the benefits from four prestigious rails skipping Coimbatore owing to single line bottleneck. Because of the single line bottleneck between Coimbatore and Irugur, these trains were being routed via Podanur and Irugur skipping Coimbatore. The budgetary allocation for the doubling of the Coimbatore - Irugur line had proven to be inadequate, he said.

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