Dedication of the new freight terminal established at Rs. 2 crore at Irugur were among four projects that Union Minister for Railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, inaugurated here on Saturday. He also laid foundation for five projects including passenger amenities that will be established at Rs. 13 crore, and completed in a phased manner in a year.
Important among the new projects for which he laid the foundation included provision of an automated multilevel car parking at the Coimbatore Junction. A senior railway official said the project was at a very nasal stage and that it would be the first multilevel car parking in the railways, in India.
Estimated to be completed at Rs. 2 crore, the car parking facility will come at the back gate of the junction in the place of the existing - ground level - parking facility. It will be completed under the public-private partnership mode or through any industrial unit under the corporate social responsibility.
However, its capacity and number of stories will be decided on studying the safety aspects and based on funds pooled by corporates.
According to a senior railway official, full-fledged functioning of the goods terminal at Irugur will divert all goods trains from Coimbatore North Station to Irugur. This will pave the way for developing North Station as a satellite junction for Coimbatore Junction. The official added that the Irugur freight terminal would also reduce dozens of goods trains crossing the city and facilitate better passenger train movement. Other projects that were inaugurated by the Minister at the Junction include air conditioned retiring rooms and air conditioned dormitories for men and women at Rs. 50 lakh, provision of paid air conditioned lounge and a common waiting room at platform number 1 and 2 at Rs. 25 lakh and a similar air conditioned paid lounge at platform 3 and 4 at Rs. 10 lakh.
He laid stone for extension of platforms and increasing the Clear Standing Length of road to hold 24 coaches at Mettupalayam Station
