‘Cotton Express’ to connect Howrah with Tirupur

Tirupur: Salem divisional railway manager (DRM) Hari Shankar Verma flagged off a goods train service between Tirupur and Howrah on Thursday.

The weekly train, named as 'Cotton Express', would travel through Salem, Chennai, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Bhubaneswar to reach Howrah in West Bengal. Since Tirupur is the knitwear hub of the country, the goods would be sent to many states. With the domestic market booming, the need for more transportation services was increasing. The industrialists in the city often have raised complaints that the goods could not be transported easily to many states like West Bengal.

They also have demanded the Southern Railway to operate goods train to connect many northern states from Tirupur. Realising its importance, the Cotton Express was launched. As of now, the train will be operated as weekly service, said a railway official. The train has 20 goods compartments, each compartment could afford 23 tonnes of goods. The train was scheduled to be departed from Tirupur during evening hours of every Thursday and it will reach Howrah on Saturday, said the official. TNN