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S.ravi
Advanced Member
India
4205 Posts |
 Posted - 08/27/2009 : 19:05:43
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NAGAPATTINAM: The Railway station here is a site of frenzied activity in the wake of the annual festival at Velankanni.
The festival shed in the station premises is already crowded with pilgrims travelling by foot trickling into the town. Nagapattinam station would have received its first set of pilgrims by Dadar-Nagore Express on Thursday night.
Two other trains, the Chennai–Nagore Express and Ernakulam-Nagore Express will arrive here on Saturday morning. An ambulance is parked outside the station and workers are seen painting the station’s tall iron pillars in silver colour.
The toilets are expected to be operational from Friday at the initiative of the district Rotaract which had sought the assistance of EXNORA to handle the toilets for the10-day feast with the concurrence of the railways. Plumbing works are under way for 14 toilets each for women and men along with 8 other pay-and-use toilets.
Similarly, water seepage along the walls right next to the LCD television is sought to be addressed after the DRM’s visit. A doctor and six nurses are stationed on the platform. Besides, the 34 office-bearers at the station are sought to be provided with just 35 masks for the entire 10-day period. The most felt need apart from the basic infrastructural amenities here at the station is that of stabling yards to accommodate express trains.
According to executive member of Nagapattinam Consumer Protection Council Aravind Kumar, there was a stabling yard that was set up by Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) for its use, but it has now been abandoned after the company started shipments. This could be used by the Railways.
Nagore has one stabling yard and it cannot accommodate additional stabling yards due to paucity of space. Besides the station does not have water filling facility for which all trains that start from here halt at Thiruvarur for half an hour.
Nagapattinam Railway station is at an advantage with adequate land at its disposal. There is a large unused area adjacent to the dilapidated building that had housed water tank for the steam engine of yesteryears, which can be used. The 153-year-old station built by the British has a history of its own, reflected in the pillars within which drain pipes are also fitted. The railway line that was laid here in 1856 had contributed to Nagapattinam’s status as a hub of sea-trade with buzzing port activities in the past. Interestingly, this was also a station that had once housed a railway hospital and recreational facilities in the Robinson Hall adjacent to it for the use of the railway staff.
Heritage sites
According to R.Soundarajan, council member, the pillars to support high roofs are reminiscent of the tall iron pillars of Birmingham. These railway stations are truly heritage sites that demand preservation through immediate intervention, he says. According to him, Nagapattinam station should be declared a model station to reclaim its glory
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NAGAPATTINAM: Railway station
