The Southern Railway will take up the works of laying new railway lines between Pollachi and Podanur (59 km) and Chinna Salem and Kallakurichi (16 km) sanctioned during the current year, said Vashishta Johri, its General Manager.
He was addressing the Members of Parliament hailing from the western districts at the Southern Railway headquarters, Chennai, on Thursday.
He said that the electrification works between Salem and Dindigul via Karur will also be taken up during the current fiscal.
The track doubling work between Omalur and Mettur Dam taken up at a cost of Rs. 28.93 crore is under implementation, he added.
The General Manager also made a power point presentation on these development works and also the performance of the Southern Railway in general and the Salem Railway Division in particular in various fronts, a press release of the Salem Railway Division issued here said.
A.K. Selvaraj, MP, demanded construction of new stations at Veerapandi, Puthu Pudur and Thudiyalur in the Coimbatore-Mettupalayam section. The GM said that necessary proposal would be sent to Railway Board on the same. Mr. Selvaraj also wanted Railways to fund such projects, rather than demanding the local bodies to bear the costs. Mr. Selvaraj further wanted the presence of Railway Board members at such meetings with MPs to enable the matters at the Board level to be decided on priority. He further demanded operation of passenger trains between Coimbatore and Mettupalayam on Sundays also.
P. R. Sundaram, MP, insisted on regularising the Salem- Karur passenger special trains and extension of these trains up to Tiruchi.
Further, he demanded running of festival special trains from Salem to southern districts via Namakkal and extension of Chennai Egmore-Salem Express up to Karur and beyond.
K. P. Ramalingam, MP, demanded operation of a day time express train from Chennai Egmore to Coimbatore, via Karur, Namakkal, and Rasipuram. The GM assured that a proposal in this regard would be forwarded to the Railway Board.
K. Kamaraj, MP, wanted the works on the new line between Kallakurichi and Chinna Salem, be taken up on priority, for which GM replied that the works have already been sanctioned.
Shubhranshu, Divisional Railway Manager, Salem, participated in the meeting.
