Religious Tourism and Redevelopment of Railway Stations

Religious Tourism and Redevelopment of Railway Stations

If you stepped out of Srirangam Railway Station and tripped over something, you would land at the apartment building in which I reside. The station falls on the chord line between Chennai and stations further south like Tiruchirappalli, Madurai and on down.

Srirangam is one of the nine stations in Southern Railway that have been redeveloped under and as part of Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS) implemented across India. The other stations are: St. Thomas Mount (within the limits of the suburban trains from Chennai), Samalpatti, Chidambaram, Tiruvannamalai, Mannargudi, Vriddhachalam, Polur, Kulitturai. Out of the above, I can identify four stations as anchoring the travel plans of devotees: Chidambaram and Tiruvannamalai (both Saivite), Srirangam and Mannargudi (both Vaishnavite). Polur, only about 30 km from Tiruvannamalai, could become its suburb in a couple of decades, thanks to ribbon development.

By the way, ribbon development is not anywhere a new concept. Kanchipuram used to have two distinct areas, earmarked as the Big Kanchipuram and the Little Kanchipuram. These two were connected, and I am not joking, a ribbon thin urban marketplace! The irony is the Pallava dynasty had its own central vista, on the western limits of the Big Kanchipuram!

I do not know about the choice of the other three stations out of the nine, but I suspect they too have strong religious significance. For example, St. Thomas Mount, named a National Shrine in 2010. That is, we can somewhat confidently say that the redeveloped stations in Tamil Nadu have a strong religious flavour.

In a recent post I have argued that the architect who was involved in Srirangam station redevelopment was in a way colour blind. My point still stands, no matter it has been anointed by Mr. Modi. Now, I would like to bring another point, about the same station. The railway line marks the municipal limits of Srirangam on the west side, and of Tiruvanaikovil on the east.  I am OK with an unhyphenated (hyphenated as in Srirangam−Tiruvanaikovil) name Srirangam for the station. Yet, the station could have been provided with another entry/exit facility, along with a ticket counter on the Tiruvanaikovil side.

As it stands, people from Tiruvanaikovil have to negotiate a Road Overbridge (RoB) across the tracks to reach the station, adding perhaps more than a kilometre to the distance and about Rs. 50/− to the three-wheeler fare. Also, a two-wheeler parking lot would be of great help to the public, which can divert some of the revenue from the Srirangam side. There is enough space on the east side of the tracks for the above; I know as my evening walks sometimes take me there, which I get to by going across a level crossing. Train travellers seem not to have been consulted. Again, top-down decision making, the modus operandi of GoI.

I would also point out something about Tiruvannamalai station redevelopment. It is somewhat on the periphery of and at about 2 km (about 25-30 minutes walking time) from the main attraction of the town, Arunachaleswarar Temple. Could the railway authorities not have adjusted the rail line, and also the station, closer to the temple? Of course, cost. But, it could have been absorbed within the services heading.

While on this topic, I would also mention Kanchipuram. Why that station has not been redeveloped? The reason could be that within the past two to three decades, the station has been shunted out from the then eastern (of one part of the town; the eastern part has been extended further east) to the southern fringes of the whole town. For the deities of Kanchipuram to go again with begging bowls to the Southern Railway authorities would have been unseemly! Kanchipuram lost out due to its embarrassment of riches – too many major deities! The same fate was visited upon the other highly venerated temple town, Kumbakonam!

That takes me to the end of this post, looking a gift horse in the mouth. The horses, like Kumbakonam, Kanchipuram are too long in their teeth! Therefore, I stop.

Raghuram Ekambaram