Passengers at the Papanasam railway station were put to much hardship as they were made to board or alight from trains with the light emanating from the compartments and from their mobile torch lights as the station remained under darkness for several hours on Thursday night.

Inquiries reveal that power supply to the station got cut off from evening hours to night on June 11 though the ticket booking counter staff managed to perform their duties with the battery backup available for running the computerised ticketing system until the last train for the day passed through the station around midnight.

Ironically, this station, which falls in the Non-Suburban Category 5 list of around 200 railway stations in the Southern Railway domain, had a diesel power generator but it failed to function at the crucial time.

Although categorised as a NSG-5 category station, Papanasam railway station’s passenger volume graph remains in upward trend thanks to the Railway Board conceding the requests from passenger associations such as the Papanasam Train Passengers Association to make a provision for stops to a few important passenger trains that pass through the main line section.

The footfall at this station crossed 4.50 lakh last financial year compared to 4.43 lakh in 2024-25. Similarly, the ticket sales revenue increased from ₹2.31 crore in 2024-25 to ₹2.45 crore in the last financial year, according association secretary T. Saravanan.

Scope for solar power

Meanwhile, Sethuraman of Thanjavur, a social activist closely interacting with the Divisional-level Railway Commuter Consultative Committee members of Tiruchi Railway Division, wondered while funds were spent in crores under various railway infrastructure development or redevelopment or modification programmes why importance was not given or even considered to tap the alternative energy source for general lighting system at the railway stations, particularly small railway stations.

Referring to an attempt to tap solar power as a backup for signalling system at a railway station along the newly laid Tiruvarur-Karaikudi section in the recent past, with the available space and manpower Indian Railways could emerge as a trend setter in tapping solar power for public infrastructure facilities, he said.