Madurai: The removal of unreserved coaches or general coaches from two popular trains has come under attack from regular travellers that one of them moved the court seeking restoration of coaches. Hearing the case, Justice M. Venugopal of Madras high court, expressed concern in view of the Deepavali season during which thousands of people travel in Vaigai Super Fast Express and Pallavan Super Fast Express between Chennai and Madurai and Chennai and Tiruchy.
The judge ordered the general manager of Southern Railway, Southern Railway, Chennai and senior railway divisional manager, Southern Railway, Madurai, to file response by Thursday. B. Karthee of Andalpuram, Madurai, in his petition filed before a division bench comprising Justices Venugopal and Abdul Quddhose stated that one unreserved coach from the two trains which have been serving people for more than 30 years, has been replaced with a reserved coach on September 11 this year.
The removal of unreserved coaches would affect the economically backward people, who use these coaches to visit Chennai for various reasons including employment, medical treatment and for education purpose, said the petitioner. People prefer the general unreserved coach in these trains because the train fare is only Rs 170 and Rs 126 for Vaigai Super Fast Express and Pallavan SuperFast Express respectively while the private Omni buses charges nearly Rs 1000 for a passenger, said Karthee, the petitioner. The petitioner also said that around 250 passengers used to travelling in general compartment at a time and the number of passengers would increase during the festival time.
