Plea to stop reclassification of Muthupet station dismissed

A division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad, said, “The Railway administration caters to the needs of the entire country. The railways are the best judge to classify the stations based on footfall of the passengers and the goods that must be loaded in the train. Every station cannot become a block station. The Courts must not interfere in such aspects.”

The President of Puthupallivasal, Executive Committee, had contended that the Muthupet Railway Station, is in existence from 1906 and has a population of more than 80,000 people and consists of 59 village panchayats. Moreover, Muthupet had a small seaport during the British period and hence if the Railway Station is downgraded, the passengers would not be able to book luggage, from the Railway Station.

Also, noting that there is no well-defined policy for re-classifying the railway station and Muthpet Railway Station has been downgraded only on the whims and fancies of the Southern Railways, he had submitted that owing to this the Integrated Unreserved Ticker System (IUTS), will also not be available for the passengers.

However, P T Ramkumar, counsel appearing for the Railways stated that the Muthupet Railway Station was earlier on a Meter Gauge lane and it is now being converted to Broad Gauge. He also submitted that train services are yet to begin in this line and a diesel engine with about 8 to 9 coaches only would first be run on this line.

He also stated that Railways would take all steps to ensure that passengers are not put to any inconvenience.