Saturday, May 31, 2003
Saturday, May 31, 2003 |
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Tamil Nadu
By Our Staff Reporter
The Southern Railway General Manager, V. Anand, who inspected the section early this morning, said the track was fit to operate trains at a speed of 70 kmph. On board a special train, the GM found the riding index and other safety parameters well within the permissible limits. "The deficiencies pointed out by the Commissioner of Railway Safety during his mandatory inspection recently have been rectified. The section is absolutely safe for train operations and we have proposed a shuttle service between Madurai and Rajapalayam to begin with," Mr. Anand told The Hindu here today. The maximum speed on the 53-km stretch would be enhanced to 100 kmph after the last monsoon this year in consultation with the CRS. "As of now, we do not have plans to extend express trains to Rajapalayam, as there is no maintenance (of coaches) facility there," he said. The conversion of the Rajapalayam-Tenkasi section had already commenced and would be completed by March next year. The final location survey of the Shencottah-Punalur ghat section was completed and engineers were working on establishing a less steep gradient by deviating from the existing alignment.
MRTS project
Mr. Anand said the next phase of the Mass Rapid Transit System in Chennai would commence operations latest by July. A lorry strike and restrictions on sand mining delayed the project. "The Government of Tamil Nadu has agreed to offer some relaxations in sand mining to expedite the project," he said and added that efforts were on to complete the Villupuram-Pondicherry, Vadalur-Cuddalore and the Madurai-Manamadurai conversion works during the current financial year. The Minister of State for Railways, A.K. Moorthy and the Union Minister for Non-Conventional Energy Sources, M. Kannappan, will be participating in the inaugural function. Interestingly, the name of the Sivakasi MP, Vaiko, who played an instrumental role in getting the Virudhunagar-Rajapalayam conversion project sanctioned, was not included in the invitation. The local MP was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and lodged in the Vellore central prison for more than a year now. "We strictly followed the protocol while deciding on invitees," an official said. However, a copy of the invitation was handed over at the office of Mr. Vaiko at Sivakasi.
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