Lobby for more trains from January 18 meet

Kanyakumari: Instead of always pointing an accusing finger at the Union railway ministry for not providing adequate trains after the railway budget, the TN government is expected to make best use of the Indian Railway Timetable Conference (IRTTC) 2016, scheduled to be held for 3 days from Jan. 18 at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala to gain more new trains for the state.

Being an important pre-budgetary process of the railway budget, the IRTTC scheduled at Thiruvananthapuram will finalise the new railway timetable for 2016-17, strictly based on which new services will be introduced in the annual railway budget. According to Southern Railway sources, the conference is to be attended by controllers of all 68 railway divisions and the chief controllers of 17 zones to decide the trains to figure in the railway budget 2016-17.

‘Hence it’s the right time that our state government and members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha from the state place their demands to incorporate proper timings of trains for the convenience of passengers in the state,’ said Kanyakumari District Railway Users’ Association (KDRUA) secretary P. Edward Jeni, according to whom the timings of many long route trains originating from the state or passing through it, are inconvenient to passengers.

“The administrations of our neighbouring states of Kerala and Karnataka are keen to make use of the pre-budgetary processes to ensure allotment of more services and railway projects to their respective states by aptly representing their demands in time,” said Edward Jeni.