Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has urged Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to give instructions to Southern Railway (SR) to resume electric multiple unit (EMU)/suburban trains in and around Chennai. This will greatly help the general public and facilitate a quick revival of the economy, he said in a letter to Goyal.

The service of the EMUs was stopped from March 22 due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.

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However, following the State government’s request, the SR has been operating a limited number of workmen special suburban trains from October 5 on all routes, including Chennai Central-Avadi/Thiruvallur/Arakkonam, Chennai Beach-Chengalpattu/Tambaram and Chennai Beach-Velachery.

Only staff members of essential services authorised by the government can travel in these trains on producing permission letters issued by the government’s nodal officer. The letters should have details like name, designation, department/office and the names of the originating and destination stations, according to SR release issued earlier.

The CM’s letter to Goyal said that SR had resumed operations of a number of inter-State and intra-State trains in Tamil Nadu now. Similarly, the State Government has permitted public transport, including Metro rail in Chennai, to revive the economic activities.

The State government had made a request on September 2 to resume EMU and sub-urban trains in and around Chennai for general public, the letter said.

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