Coimbatore: While railway activists welcomed the decision to stop four more express trains at the Coimbatore North station, they requested authorities to improve basic infrastructure on Mettupalayam Road for the convenience of passengers.On Tuesday, the Salem division of Southern Railway announced that KSR Bengaluru-Coimbatore Uday Express will stop at the station between 8.48pm and 8.50pm from Wednesday. Tirupati-Coimbatore intercity express will stop there from 10.15pm to 10.17pm. Nizamuddin- Coimbatore Kongu Express will halt from 8.47am to 8.49am from Friday, while Chennai Central- Coimbatore weekly superfast will stop there from 6.15am to 6.28am from Sunday. Nilgiris Express, Cheran Express and the Coimbatore-Nagercoil passenger train already stop there.For more passengers to use the station, there is a need to set up more street lights, parking facilities, concrete approach road and easily accessible public transport, railway activists said. “The station needs a complete revamp, including a foot over-bridge connecting Mettupalayam Road and the station. There is already a small lane, but it needs a bridge over it,” said R Raveendran of Residents Awareness Associations of Coimbatore.Also, public transport should be available at the station, railway activist Sathish said. “Passengers need to walk till the power station to catch a bus. Autorickshaws and taxis are not easily available. Lighting in the station and access road have to be improved.”According to railway officials, about 350 passengers alight from the express trains arriving from Chennai at the station. “About 100 passengers alight from each train. While we don’t have a target in mind for the new trains introduced, we assume that about 100 passengers will get off,” an official said.However, considering a train has about 2,000 passengers, it forms hardly 5% of the crowd. “If the railway wants to see the number of passengers alighting and using the station improve from 5% to 10%, infrastructure should simultaneously be improved,” said member of Parliament PR Natarajan.

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