Tamil Nadu: Special train to Palani to clear Thaipoosam rush

COIMBATORE: The Southern Railway has introduced an additional train between Coimbatore and Palani for 11 days to manage the rush during the Thaipoosam festival. The train will leave the city at 9.45am and reach Palani at 12.45pm. It will then leave Palani at 1.45pm and reach the city at 4.45pm. A day train to Palani has been a long-pending demand of rail activists and devotees, as the existing one leaves the city in the afternoon and reaches Palani in the evening, forcing devotees to either catch a bus for return trip or stay back there overnight and take the morning train to the city.
The railway on Saturday said it would run the special train service from February 2 to 12, to clear extra rush of devotees to the Arulmigu Dhandayuthapani Temple for the Thaipoosam festival.
Devotees, who manage to finish their darshan in an hour, could take the return train that would start from Palani at 1.45pm. Or else, they could take the train that leaves Palani at 5.30pm and reaches the city at 9.50pm. There is also a morning train that leaves Palani at 10.45am and reaches the city at 2.10pm.
Deputy speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman and MP P R Natarajan welcomed the announcement and said the special train was introduced based on their requests. Natarajan said he had demanded the train during the divisional rail users’ committee meeting on January 7, while Pollachi Jayaraman said he had officially written to the Southern Railway asking for the train in December and as recently as January 23.
The special train will have 10 coaches. Thaipoosam, which is celebrated in commemoration of Goddess Parvati giving Lord Muruga a “vel” or spear to vanquish evil demon Soorapadman, draws huge crowd to the Murugan temple in Palani. “More than the timings, we wanted to introduce just another train to clear the rush of devotees, who are otherwise forced to take buses as the existing trains become too crowded,” said a railway official.