New Delhi:
New express and passenger trains, increase in the frequency of some long-distance and suburban trains, setting up of windmills and completion of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in Chennai are some of the steps Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi announced for Tamil Nadu Wednesday.
Presenting the 2012-13 budgetary proposals for the Indian Railways in the Lok Sabha, Trivedi said the MRTS extension service, the elevated rail system in the state capital, would be completed in 2012-13 and conversion of a near defunct 156-year-old South India’s first railway station at Royapuram into a terminal would be studied.
The MRTS currently connects Chennai Beach and Velachery. With Tamil Nadu leading in wind power generation, Indian Railways too plans to cash in on that potential by setting up some windmills in the state as well as a bio-diesel plant at Tondiarpet in Chennai.
Trivedi said the railways will set up Rail Neer (bottled water) plant at Palur. To ease the congestion in suburban services, Trivedi announced 18 additional services on Chennai Beach-Tambaram, Chennai Beach-Chengalpattu, Chennai Beach-Avadi, Chennai Beach-Tiruttani, Chennai Beach-Gummidipundi/Sullurupetta and Chennai Beach-Velachery sections.
In respect of new train services, Trivedi announced nine express and two passenger trains for Tamil Nadu apart from increasing the frequency of some trains and extending some services.
He said four new lines (Walajah Road-Ranipet, Namakkal-Mohanur, Needamangalam-Manargudi and Mohanur-Karur) would be completed this fiscal.
Trivedi said a new line linking Avadi-Guduvancheri via Sriperumbudur and Orgadam had been sent for the Planning Commission’s approval.
Surveys for new lines (Chennai to Sriperumbudur via Guindy, Poonamallee, Kanchipuram-Thiruvannamalai-Katpadi, Kumbakonam-Andimadam-Jayankandam-Vridhachalam, Thanjavur to Pudukottai via Fandarvakottai, Attipattu-Ennore Sea Port and Dindigul-Kumuli via Bodinayakkanur) would be taken up in 2012-13.
Similarly, the Railways have sent new line doubling projects (Jollarpettai-Katpadi-Arakkonam, Renigunta-Arakkonam 3rd line) to the Planning Commission’s approval.
Sanction has been given for new surveys for line doubling projects linking Madurai-Triunelveli-Kanyakumari alongwith electrification and Trivandrum and Kanniyakumari and the electrification of Coimbatore-Mettupalayam route.
Trivedi also announced new express trains for Tamil Nadu (Coimbatore-Bikaner AC Express (Weekly) via,Roha,Vasai Road,Ahmedabad,Jodhpur; Chennai-Bangalore AC Double-decker Express (Daily); Tiruchchirappalli-Tirunelveli Intercity Express (Daily) via Madurai,Virudunagar; Visakhapatnam-Chennai Express (Weekly);Kacheguda-Madurai Express (Weekly) via Dharmavaram,Pakala,Jolarpettai; Shalimar-Chennai Express (Weekly); Mannargudi – Tirupati Express (Tri-Weekly) via Thiruvarur,Villupuram,Katpadi; Chennai-Puri Express (Weekly) and Asansol-Chennai Express (Weekly) via Purulia, Sambalpur, Vizianagaram.)
The two new passenger trains announced are Villupuram-Katpadi Passenger (Daily) and Villupuram-Mayiladuthurai Passenger (Daily).
The trains that are extended are Madurai-Tirupati Express to Rameswaram; Palakkad-Mangalore Express to Coimbatore and Dadar-Yesvantpur Express to Puducherry (three days) via Jolarpettai-Katpadi-Villupuram and to Tirunelveli (three days) via Dharmapuri-Erode.
The frequency of the Madurai-Tirupati Express two to three days, Chennai-Mangalore Express six to seven days and Nizamuddin Kanniyakumari Express one to two days have been increased. (IANS)
source: http://www.PunjabNewsline.com / Punjab Newsline Network / Wednesday, March 14th, 2012