Date:15/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/15/stories/2006091516950100.htm

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Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur BG line by next June

Staff Reporter

MG services to be stopped from January

CLOSING STAGE: This metre gauge train will run for some more months. — Photo: A. Shaikmohideen

TIRUNELVELI: The metre gauge train services between Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur would be stopped from January to expedite broad gauge conversion. Work on this 62-km-long section, which was opened in 1923, is expected to be completed by June 2007.

After gauge conversion, the journey time on this section will be reduced by 30 minutes.

Though patronage for train services on this stretch, being operated with seven coaches, is good in the morning and evening with a minimum of 500 season ticket holders, revenue from the afternoon services is relatively thin. If a push-pull train is introduced in this section with chair cars, the time taken for changing the engine, about 30 minutes, can be avoided. Once the gauge conversion is over, it will pave the way for increased cargo movement, especially salt transport, from areas such as Arumuganeri.

Southern Railway has completed the construction of 130 of the 187 small and big bridges. It has spent Rs. 20 crore against the total project outlay of Rs. 93 crore. "Services on this section will be resumed in June," the General Manager (in-charge), Southern Railways, Raja Goundan, who was here to evaluate the progress of the project, told reporters here on Thursday.