The Chennai-Madurai-Chennai Duronto Express announced in the Railway Budget is likely to be introduced by November, the Southern Railway General Manager, Deepak Krishan, has said.
“The rakes for the train are expected to come in three months. We will introduce the train in October/November,” Mr. Krishan told reporters here after inspecting the railway facilities in Karaikudi-Madurai section on Wednesday.
The train would not be operated on the shortest route - through Madurai-Tiruchi-Villuppuram section - but through Dindigul-Erode-Jolarpet to reach Chennai Central. Though it would be a circuitous route, the train would reach the destination faster, since the Tiruchi-Villuppuram section is already over-utilised.
He hoped that the new train would get good patronage like many other Duronto Expresses operated in the country.
On the ongoing gauge conversion projects, Mr. Krishan said that the Virudhunagar-Manamadurai project was in an advanced stage and would be completed by March 2012. Similarly, the final touches were being given to the Dindigul-Palani section of the Dindigul-Palani-Pollachi project. After clearance from the Commissioner of Railway Safety, the line could be put to use, he said.
The work on the Madurai-Bodi section would begin soon as the preliminary works had been completed, he said.
Mr. Krishan admitted that the cleanliness on trains had lot of scope for improvement. He said passengers, especially in air-conditioned coaches, were littering the coaches with lot of garbage and left-over food that attracted rodents and cockroaches. Pest control exercise would be closely watched for creating better environment for the passengers in the coaches, he said.
The General Manager also discussed the issue of re-modelling of the Madurai railway yard with the Divisional Railway Manager, A.K. Goel, the Additional Divisional Railway Manager, T. Venkatasubramanian, and other officials.
