Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Wednesday, May 21, 2003 |
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Tamil Nadu
By Our Staff Reporter
Commissioning augmented coach maintenance facilities at the Nagercoil railway junction here today, Mr. Dattatreya said the package would benefit both the pilgrims and holidayers. The Railways had earmarked about Rs. 360 crores for establishing rail over bridges and he urged State Governments to come forward with a fifty per cent matching grant for early completion of the projects. In a reply to a request from Pon. Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Mr. Dattatreya announced that the Sabari Express, starting from Hyderabad, would be extended up to Kanyakumari from July. The augmented coach maintenance provided here at a cost of Rs. 4.87 crores would facilitate decongestion at the Thiruvananthapuram depot. So far about Rs.3.90 crores had been spent on providing pitline, sicklines and shunting neck here. He said the Nagercoil junction would play a vital part in the history of the Southern Railways as it was fast emerging a major destination in the southern most corner of the country. Efforts were on to expand platforms at various stations, including Nagercoil, to accommodate 21-coach trains. A proposal to establish a station at Parvathypuram here was under consideration, he said. The Railways allocated about Rs. 29 lakhs for improving areas around stations. On the cards during the current financial year were computerised reservation centres at Mahabalipuram, Perambalur, Tiruvannamalai, Tiruvallur and Kuzhithurai and a touch-screen system at Kanyakumari during the current financial year. Accepting a proposal from Mr. Radhakrishnan, Mr. Dattatreya said a feasibility study on establishing a rail link between Kanyakumari and Pondicherry would be initiated soon. The Additional General Manager, Southern Railways, K. K. Pande, the Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Sujatha Jayaraj, the Rajya Sabha MP, M. Shankaralingam, the Nagercoil MLA, S. Austin and the senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer, H. Viswanathan, spoke.
Gauge conversion work
Speaking to presspersons, Mr. Dattatreya said the Railways planned to undertake gauge conversion work for a 357-km stretch on an outlay of about Rs.462 crore. The Ministry allocated Rs. 25 crores in the 2003 - 04 budget for the project, for which Rs.61 crores had already been spent this year. The project, also envisaged construction of bridges in addition to maintaining existing bridges, covered Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Tiruchendur and Rajapalayam and a 161-km stretch between Madurai and Rameswaram. The tender for constructing a bridge between Madurai and Manamadurai had been finalised. Doubling work at Tiruvallur and Arakonam was apace and the doubling work between Attipattu and Kurukupettai at an estimate of Rs.70 crores was taken up under the National Rail Vikas Yojana.
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