Chennai: Acting on a request from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, the Southern Railway would soon resume EMU train services in and around Chennai, sources said.
“Most probably, the services would restart by the first week of November,” sources said and added that safety measures are being worked out.
Palaniswami on Friday urged Railways Minister Piyush Goyal to direct Southern Railway to resume Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) and suburban train services in and around Chennai.
The services were stopped in March last week following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. In a letter to Goyal, the Chief Minister said resuming EMU and suburban train services would greatly help the public and facilitate quick revival of the economy.
He said the Southern Railway has resumed operations of a number of Inter-State and Intra-State trains in Tamilnadu now.
“Similarly, the State government has permitted public transport, including Metro rail in Chennai in order to revive the economic activities”, he added.
The State government has already made a request on 2 September to resume EMU and suburban trains in and around Chennai for general public, Palaniswami said and urged Goyal to give instructions to Southern Railway to resume EMU and suburban trains in and around
Chennai, by duly adopting Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Covid-19.
It may be noted that from 5 October, essential services staff are allowed to travel in Workmen EMU Special suburban trains being operated by the Southern Railway.