Chennai, June 14 (BPNS)
The biggest trade union of Southern Railway employees, Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU) on Tuesday conducted a protest against the handing over of express train routes to private players.
The union in the protest march in front of the Erode railway junction said that the railways had identified 109 pairs of routes in 12 clusters to allow private players to operate train services. The union leaders said that these private players are also allowed to fix the fares on these trains.
A leader of the Southern Railway Mazdoor Union said that all these routes that are to be handed over to the private entities are profit-making and that the decision will only favour the private players.
The union leaders also said that they strongly condemn the move to hand over the Coimbatore –Shirdi train service under the Bharat Gaurav scheme.
The SRMU leaders said that the fare was double that of the usual fare and that the Railways were responsible for privatizing even the profit-making railway routes.
The union also flayed the move of the Indian Railways to operate the Shri Ramayana Yatra tourist train service from New Delhi to Nepal by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The SRMU said that only Indian Railways must operate train services and not sell the trains to IRCTC.
The Union also said that the Indian Railway’s move to operate 100 trains under Bharat Gaurav scheme was part of the privatization of the Indian Railways and added that the government was selling the national assets that were built since the country attained independence in 1947.
Senior SRMU leaders participated in the protest march at Erode.
