I am a native of cuddalore port. as we know the traffic between cuddalore and pondy is horrific. it will take some years before if ever there is a railway line between pondy and cuddalore. i hope the railway authorities run a fast demu between chidambaram through cuddalore, villupuram to pondy running at about 80km per hour wherever the track allows and 60km at bad stretches. i estimate a fast passenger starting from chidambaram stopping at paranggipettai, puduchattiram, alapakkam, cupj, thirrpudaliyur, nellikupam, panrutti, veellipuram, villianur and pondy should be able to make the trip in 1.5hrs. another section should break off from cupj and continue to neiveli, virdachalam , salem and at certain times to mettur. a three unit demu with capacity of 300 people running at hourly frequency starting at 6am. to 9am and thereafter at 1.5 hour intervals until 4pm and then at hourly intervals up to...
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7 , 8.30, 10 11pm should reduce inter town traffic. the bus routes can concentrate on village passengers. The fare can be about Rs50 or Rs 80 return from chidambaram to Pondy/salem. given that one has to pay about Rs50 or , to catch an auto home , this should be ok. of course daily users workers can have season passes. at maybe Rs 500 per month with student monthly passes at Rs300 per month.
this will be a great boon to people in the region
shahul hameed
cuddalore native in malaysia