Good news for rail passengers! Southern Railways has decided to revise the stoppages of Shraddha Sethu Superfast Express, which is a weekly train that runs between Mandapam in Tamil Nadu and Ayodhya Cantt in Uttar Pradesh.
Railways on Wednesday informed that the Shraddha Sethu Superfast Express will now stop at Ramanathapuram and Karaikudi from September 20.
This train was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2017 and this superfast express also connects places of pilgrimage linked to Lord Ram.
Additional stoppages on experimental basis
A spokesperson of the Southern Railways (SR) informed that they had received multiple requests from pilgrims as well as the people of Ramanathapuram and Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu that these places be included among the stoppages of Shraddha Sethu Superfast Express.
The official also added that Southern Railways has “decided to provide stoppage to the Shraddha Sethu Superfast Express at these two stations on an experimental basis.”
The express train, originally scheduled to run between Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and Ayodhya Cantt in Uttar Pradesh, has been operating from Mandapam since February. This change in operations is a result of the closure of the old Pamban bridge, which connects mainland India to Rameswaram Island.
The closure of the old Pamban bridge is due to the ongoing construction of a new bridge, initiated by the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) in February 2020. Originally planned for completion by December 2021, the project faced delays attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a spokesperson, the new bridge, measuring 2.078 kilometers in length, is expected to be ready and operational by the end of October.