The State government has started acquiring land for the East Coast Rail project, said Union Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy here on Tuesday.
The 179-km ECR project passes through Chennai, Mammallapuram, Puducherry, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, and Karaikal at an estimated cost of Rs. 800 crore.
Speaking at the flagging off ceremony of the Lokmanya Tilak–Karaikal Weekly here, Mr. Narayanasamy said there were demands for new trains connecting Karaikal with New Delhi, Kanyakumari, and Kollam and the demands would be placed before the Railway Ministry.
The 22-km Karaikal–Peralam gauge conversion project envisaged at Rs. 178 crore but funds had not bee allocated this year. According to the Minister, it is expected that Rs. 120 crore would be sanctioned this year for the project. Persistent demand for extension of the Velankanni–Vasco-da-Gama Weekly special up to Karaikal will be pursued.
The long-standing request for all trains extended up to Karaikal to halt at T.R. Pattinam be taken up personally with Mallikarjuna Karge, Mr. Narayanasamy said.
Rescheduled
The Tiruchi–Howrah bi-weekly Express (12664) that was scheduled to leave Tiruchi at 4 p.m. on October 29 has been rescheduled to leave Tiruchi at 4 p.m. on October 30 because of late running of pairing train. The Puducherry–Howrah weekly express (12868) scheduled to leave Puducherry at 12.30 p.m. on October 30 has been cancelled, a Southern Railway press release said.
