A White super horse has arrived pulling its 20 disciples on a fine sunny morning and some 150-200 people went down and r going to their duties fastly.This was the scene u will experience @ Kuppam railway station every morning @ 08:00 am.The white horse is nothing but the LGD WAP-7 & the train is 12607/08 Lalbagh Exp.Normally daily commuters will travel fm a town to a city in huge numbers, the reverse is also there,i.e., commuting daily fm city to town.Kuppam is also one of such places where reverse(Commuting fm Bangalore to Kuppam) is also happens in addition to forward(Commuting fm Kuppam to Bangalore).The Lecturers,Students,Nurses,Employees fm Bangalore/Bangarpet r commuting daily to Kuppam in Lalbagh Exp & in the evening to home in MAS-SBC ICE.
Why...
more... Iam telling these things is here Iam going to describe the treatmen tht Kuppam is getting fm SWR for over years.Friends please be patient to read this article prepared by me.
Kuppam is a town in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh having borders with Tamilnadu & Karnataka.East:Jolarpettai/Tirupattur,West:KGF/Ban garpet,South:Krishnagiri/Dharmapuri,North:Chittoor /Tirupathi.Over the years Kuppam has developed manifold.Many people fm Tamilnadu,Karnataka,Kerala are studying,doing jobs in kuppam.It has The Dravidian university(A University of 4 Dravida languages:Telugu,Tamil,Kannada & Malayalam),Kuppam Engineering College,PES Institute of Medical Sciences & Research-PESIMSR(A Medical College parented to PES Institutions head quarted @ Bengaluru),3 Diploma colleges,6 Degree colleges,7 PreUniversity Colleges,30+ schools,11 Public sector banks,A state RTC bus depot,A bus station terminal operating 300 bus services per day,A flower market biggest in the Chittoor district itself,5 Hi-Fi resorts like this Kuppam has developed in many aspects but when it comes to Railways Kuppam is very very very very very poor.Having only 2 platforms,1 UTS counter,1 Resevation counter,no roof facility on the platforms and apart fm all these only limited train facility only 11 daily trains,2weekly trains,1 4days a week train.
From the past many years SWR/RM fm KTK treated us like step children and we have denied for wht we r eligible for.We people r continously demanding for halts of the trains passing by, new train services,betterment of passenger amenties @ Kuppam RS, but upto now we have got nothing fm SWR.For SWR, SWR means only Bangalore,Bangarpet,Marikuppam,Mysore,Hubli,Arsike re,Tumkur no Kuppam nothing and especially SWR SBC Divn means only Bangarpet & Marikuppam.In the past railway budgets Bangarpet & Marikuppam has got many new services and we have got a big Egg.Here r the details:
1)2013-14 RB: Marikuppam-Bangalore pass daily.
2)2012-13 RB:66532 Bangalore – Bangarapet Passenger to Marikuppam&66533 Bangarpet –Krishnarajapuram Passenger to Marikuppam.
3)2011-12 RB:Bangalore Cantt-Bangarpet,Marikuppam-Bangarpet & Kolar-Bangalore DEMU services.
and apart fm these new budget trains have stoppage @ Bangarpet.SWR has provided halt for almost all trains @ Bangarpet, but when it comes to Kuppam no halt bcoz kuppam is a step child.Over the years Kuppam had become one of the good revenue generating stations of SWR,the commuters travelling fm KPM to Bengaluru have increased many times.According to Eenadu Chitoor old editions 25,000 rail passes r in Kuppam means tht in the worst case condition daily 15,000 passengers r commuting daily fm KPM to BNG & vice versa.I can surely tell tht the revenue of Kuppam can be comparable to tht of stations like Mandya,Tumkur,Arsikere,Birur,Davanagere like stations & morethan Jolarpettai,Chikjajur, like stations.Despite of showing improved performance day by day SWR is showing blank hands to us.Even when it comes to reservations, reseved ticket pax r also increasing fm kuppam: resevations to Tirupathi,Nellore,Ongole,Vijayawada,Chennai,Coimba tore,Ernakulam,Rajahmundry,Vizag,kakinada,Madurai & Mysore.Even i can tell tht Bangarpet doesn't have tht much reserved passengers as tht of Kuppam.For tht case wht is the revenue fm Jolarpettai, it is big junction of SR and thts why all trains r halting there, Bangarpet has huge commuters tht why halt for all trains & Kuppam is in b/n Jolarpettai & Bangarpet so no need to stop the trains.Our geographic location and Step Mother SWR are cursing us!!!!
These r the main demands of our people:
Demand 1->Stoppage of 22617/18 Bangalore-Tirupathi Intercity exp:Daily around 120 bus services are running to & fro fm Kuppam to Chittoor & Tirupathi including APSRTC & TNSTC buses and morethan some 800 people r travelling fm Kuppam to Chittoor/Tirupathi & vice versa.Kuppam is in Chittoor district & Tirupathi telecom District but a train bound to district head quarters doesn't have a halt @ tehsil of tht district.Wht a funny thing, We have asked the great Ex MoSR KH Muniyappa & SBC DRM many times reg the halt for this one.But we have no result.This is halting @ Bangarpet frankly speaking how many people r going to Tirupathi fm BWT daily.This ICE freq has to be increased to daily and halt must be provided @ Kuppam & Chittoor also.
Demand 2->Extension of 16521/22 Bangalore-Bangarpet Exp to Kuppam:Currently Kuppam is having only a Memu (66529 KPN SBC MEMU),bcoz of growing needs of pax we people have asked for extension of 16521/22 SBC-BWT exp to Kuppam,but in this reg also we got nothing and answer with SWR is this train has to got to Mysore fm bangarpet.SWR if the xtension is not feasible then introduce a new exp with UR coaches on the lines of SBC-JTJ exp.
Demand 3->New Memu services to Bangalore:The only memu is not catering the needs of Kuppam people atleast we people require another 3 memus in the day time to cater to the growing no of passengers.In the every budget Memu/Demu will be introduced b/n Bangalore & Bangarpet/Marikuppam/Kolar but no memus to Kuppam.SWR people tell tht no space @ SBC, if no space @ SBC intoduce new ones fm BNC/KJM.
Demand 4->Stoppage for several trains: Here we r asking stoppages for 17313/14 Hubli-Chennai exp,17312 VSG-Chennai Exp,22602 SNSI-Chennai Exp,16331/32 CSTM-TVC weekly exp.We people have asked SBC DRM for the stoppage of 22602 Shirdi exp but the same old story,22602 is halting @ Malur who will board Shirdi exp @ malur,i think Mr KH Muniyappa will board this train @ Malur.Here we people are asking halt for those trains which we r eligible for we r not asking halt for Sangamitra,Bagmati,Anga,DD,Kaziranga,YPRHTE,YPRTAT A,YPRBBS..........etc bcoz we know tht we r not eligible for these trains.
Demand 5->Provisioning of 3rd Platform & Pit lines:For the many years the work of 3rd pf has stranded even the electric poles r also erected @ 3rd pf & the 3rd pf is adjacent to 2nd pf , the only thing to develop 3 pf is to make cement flooring .Even SWR is not doing tht also.Currently KPN-SBC MEMU comes fm Bangapet before it deps tp SBC fm KPM in the morning & in the evening after arriving @ Kuppam it goes back to bangarpet due to non availability of pit line @ KPM.Two pit lines can be developed @ Kuppam both r adjacent to PF3.No pit lines,no addtnl pf.
Demand 6->Betterment of amenties:The existing 2 pfs have no roofs and passengers has to stand in the sun,even SWR is not providing roofs.Currently only one UTS counter is there on PF1, one more counter has to be arranged @ PF2 in peak times it gets very difficult to get a ticket.even tht also not provided.
Demand7->Underbridge for avoiding track crossing:The Bangalore-Chennai trunk line exactly passes through the equatorial line of kuppam town , bifurcating Kuppam into two equal halves.The vehicles have to cross the tracks fm one endto the other.The gate closes for every 10 mins for passsing Exp/Freight train and bcoz of this traffic gets jammed on the road.Really we people r facing hell at tht time.People have demanded for a under pass, SBC DRM has visited 2/3 times for selection of location of underpass,recently 3 months back also DRM visited but upto now no progress in this regard.
The demand wht we people r given all are genuine & legitimate ones,its our people right to have all the above things.After tht it is upto SWR whether to fulfill it or not.
Here Iam giving bus connectivity fm kuppam also:
Andhra Pradesh:Chittoor,Tirupathi,Gudur,Nellore,Ongole,Vi jayawada,Kadapa,Madanapalli,Mantralayam,Adoni,Raya choti,Anantapur,Gooty,Guntakal,Kurnool,Mahabubnaga r,Hyderabad.
Tamilnadu:Tirupattur,Jolarpettai,Vaniyambadi,Ambur ,Vellore,Krishnagiri,Dharmapuri,Salem,Erode,Bhawan i,Palani,Tiruvannamalai,Harur.
Karnataka:KGF,Kolar,Bangalore.
Kuppam has to become a muncipality this time, the file has been pending @ state govt authorities but due to the Telangana issue & Samaykhyandra bandh it wasn't happend.
The SWR has provided halt for 16315/16 SBC-KCVL and tht is the only thing SWR has given us with ease, SWR has given halt for 16315 but no halt for 16316 again twist for us.
Mein finally yee kehna chaahtha hoon ki " Hum loog bahut takh gaya ab hum nahi mangenge"
