Industry associations such as Tirupur Exporters' Association have welcomed the Railway Budget announcements, but did not fail to express their disappointment over not introducing additional overnight train connectivity between Coimbatore and Bengaluru.
“Overnight rail connectivity between Coimabtore and Bengaluru has been one of our long pending demand, as also a high-speed passenger rail-link to Chennai and Madurai. But these have not been addressed in the Railway Budget presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today,”A Sakthivel, President, TEA, said, adding “We hope that our request would be fulfilled in the parliamentary session, as the Minister had promised announcement of new trains.”
The association has welcomed the decision to maintain the rail fares at the same level and the thrust on cleanliness and improved amenities to customers, measures like introduction of smart card for getting the ticket within five minutes and SMS alerts, Wi Fi facilities in more stations and introduction of bio-toilets.
Sakthivel has also lauded the introduction of 24x7 help line from March 1.