Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Reader's Mail

`Sweet' Krishnan

This refers to `Personality of the week' (Dec 18). I am a proud classmate of Mr. Krishnan of Sri Krishna Sweets, having studied along with him at PSG Arts College (1974 B.Com batch). Our batchmates call ourselves BEECOMS and we meet regularly every month. Credit for this goes to `Sweet' Krishnan who is for us the same old college mate in spite of his quiet achievements.I wish him success in all his new endeavours.

R. Chandramohan,

Coimbatore.

NMR in limbo

The 46-km metre gauge Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) suffered some damage owing to landslides between Kallar and Coonoor following heavy north-east monsoon rains in the beginning of November. But NMR is yet to be repaired to enable resumption of train services on the scenic route to Udhagamandalam. The Coonoor highway too suffered heavy damages but it is now ready for light vehicles thanks to the efforts of the Army stationed at Wellington, which erected a Bailey bridge. Having earned the coveted UNESCO World Heritage Site status in July 2005, NMR should be better maintained and operated efficiently. At present any prospective tourist who comes to experience the leisurely journey on this mountain railway is left stranded at the base station Mettupalayam and has no option but to board a jam-packed ramshackle bus operated by the state government to reach Udhagamandalam. The then Union Minister for Railways, Nitish Kumar, had promised to modernise NMR by electrification when he attended the NMR Centenary Day function at Coonoor on June 15, 1999, and a survey was to commence in a month. However, as the aged Swiss-made steam engines have long outlived their period of peak performance, they are prone to frequent breakdowns en route between Mettupalayam and Coonoor. On the Coonoor-Udhagamandalam section of the NMR the train is hauled efficiently by a bio-diesel powered YDM4 locomotive, which is said to be "eco-friendly".

This loco cannot be used on the rack and pinion section to Mettupalayam from Coonoor and hence only the specially-made steam engine is used here. One of these vintage steam engines has been successfully modified to oil firing and it is in use on this route. Travel by the unique rack and pinion ``heritage railway'' is becoming progressively more unreliable, as trains run up to two hours behind time because of the loss of pushing power in the vintage engine. Many a time, the train is stranded on the thickly forested ghat section, either owing to poor quality of coal or because of mechanical defects.

Govind Krishnan,

New Delhi.

Remove debris

On December 25 I went to Coimbatore railway junction to see off my family members who were going by Cheran Express. I entered the station at 9.35 pm and entered the platform number three with great difficulty. The widening of sub-way leading to the platforms three and four is in slow progress. Debris has not been removed from the entrance of the sub-way. As a result railway travellers and others suffer a lot while entering or coming out of the sub-way. I request that the debris be removed immediately and expedite the sub-widening work. I thank the two policemen who help passengers in the sub-way.

N.R. Ravisankar,

Vilankurichi.

Henry, the Great

It was painful to read the pathetic story of Coimbatore's gifted footballer Henry Williams (`Misspasses in life; Henry fails to net goals', Dec 24). It was quite unfortunate that the highly talented Henry with a lot of promise spent his precious time and earnings on drinking and dining, totally ignoring the game which would have fetched him international fame. Even now, if he is in good health, the state government can consider his case sympathetically and give him a chance to work as a coach so that young footballers can learn from his experience. The repentant Henry can also lead a respectable life, which he richly deserves.

K.D. Viswanaathan,

Thadagam Road.

Ease congestion

All trains leaving Coimbatore for north and reaching Coimbatore should stop for five minutes at North Coimbatore railway station so that vehicular traffic on railway station roads and platform congestion at Coimbatore main junction can be eased.

Increasing computer booking counters at Coimbatore north junction will then be meaningful.

V.K.S.K. Senthil Kumar,

Sivananda Colony.

Improve service

It is very sad to see lots of people surrendering their broadband Internet connections in Coimbatore. In spite of being a government-owned service BSNL has not been able to make an impact in the broadband sector. Its service has to be improved a lot and its new schemes for the coming year can't make an impact if it does not do so.

Douglas Kirpa Raja,

Avinashi Road.

Build underpass

I refer to the report `Expressway, short flyovers to decongest city roads' (Dec 27).

Authorities should look at the possibility of providing a good road connecting airport and Trichy road passing through Singanallur railway station. There should also be an underpass below the runway and a flyover across the train track at Singanallur station.

The entire road should be widened to bear the heavy traffic.

This will reduce the pressure on Avinashi Road and this will be a long-term solution. Since many IT companies are coming up as the IT park is being developed, the airport should be easily accessible from all sides of the city. In addition, the Singanallur railway station should be developed further with halts for express trains so that businessmen coming by train from Tirupur and Erode will have an easy access to the airport.

K.N. Gopalan,

Singanallur.

(Readers can mail to cbereaders@the hindu.co. in with address and telephone number)

Coimbatore.

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