Vande Bharat Train plea: “Stops to be provided for a train is a matter that has to be determined by the Railways,” says SC

On July 17, 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by a lawyer who wanted the top Court to order allotting a stop for a Vande Bharat train at Tirur Railway Station in Malappuram District (his home district). The plea was filed against the order of the Kerala High Court dismissing his request to direct the Southern Railways to permit a stop at Tirur Railway station for the Vande Bharat train Service. The matter was heard by the SC bench including Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Manoj Misra, and Justice PS Narasimha. While hearing the plea, CJI said, “Now you want us to decide which station a train stops at? Do we will also take a call on stations from Delhi to Mumbai Rajdhani?” The bench also mentioned that the stops to be provided for a train is a matter, determined by the Railways. The petitioner alleged that the SC should consider at least telling the government about the same. To this, CJI firmly rejected interfering in the matter and added that it would seem like the court took cognizance of the case. Despite this, the petitioner tried to convince the Court stating that the same didn’t fructify without any reason. He added that Malappuram district is a densely populated area and the majority of them depend on train services for their travel purposes. 

The petitioner further alleged that initially Tirur was allotted a stop but the Indian Railways called back the stop and another railway station was allotted the stop, Shoranur District in Palakkad, which is 53 Km away from Tirur. He added that this was done for political reasons causing injustice to the people of Malappuram district. The petitioner further argued that this would cause trouble to the people and mentioned, “relentless hardships to the people living in the locality including the petitioner, especially to working individuals and aged people”. The Supreme Court said “The stops to be provided for a train is a matter that has to be determined by the Railways. No person has a vested right to demand that a particular train should stop at a particular station.” The SC bench added, “Railway stops are not to be provided on demands based on personal or vested interests, especially for high-speed express trains like Vande Bharat train. If stops are provided on demand by the public, the term express train will itself become a misnomer.”

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