Operation of special trains for the “Mahakumbhabhishekam’ (consecration) of Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai by the Southern Railway has kindled the hopes of commuters on the main line section that similar special trains would be operated during the “Mahamaham” scheduled to be held in March 2028 in Kumbakonam.

The Southern Railway operated special services, including a mainline-electric-multiple-units (MEMU) service, to Madurai and Manamadurai on September 16 and 17 to clear the extra rush. Pointing to this, commuter association representatives in delta region are hoping that the Southern Railway would run similar special trains via Kumbakonam to nearby destinations such as Mayiladuthurai and Thanjavur during the month-long “Mahamaham” celebrations in 2028.

Meanwhile, Revanth of Thanjavur, a frequent business class traveller to Chennai, said the chances of mainline section setting a record in terms of rail infrastructure development it had witnessed during the previous two “Mahamaham” periods were bleak. But operation of special trains, if Southern Railways decides to operate such services, would itself become a record.

The Southern Railway took up and completed the gauge conversion of mainline section coinciding with the 2004 “Mahamaham” and electrification of a part of the mainline section coinciding with the subsequent 2016 “Mahamaham” festival. However, repeated pleas for doubling the main line section for over a decade, are yet to get any response from the Southern Railway, he said.