Electrification of all the tracks in the Southern Railway will be completed by end of 2022, which will significantly speed-up the train services, General Manager, Southern Railway, John Thomas has said.
Speaking to reporters at Shencottai on Wednesday after inspecting the facilities in the railway station, Mr. John Thomas said the Southern Railway was keen on completing all electrification works before 2022-end as the Prime Minister had given specific instructions to the Indian Railways in this connection. Hence, all ongoing electrification works in Southern Railway region had been expedited with allocation of sufficient funds and other logistic support.
Once the track electrification works are completed, it will substantially speed up the train services that will ultimately result in significant reduction in the duration of journey.
On the question pertaining to the possibility of laying new rail track from Shencottai to Tirunelveli via Alangulam, Mr. John Thomas replied that there were so many problems in the acquisition of lands for the new railway projects through the State Government. Hence, new rail tracks could be laid in the yet-to-be-covered areas only if lands required for these projects could be acquired.
The General Manager inspected the facilities and maintenance of the Shencottai railway station in the presence of Divisional Railway Manager V.R. Lenin.
Vasudevanallur MLA Manoharan submitted a petition to the General Manager appealing to him to ensure the halting of Kollam – Tambaram Express Train at Paambukovilsandhai station.
Moreover, petitions for operation of express trains from Shencottai to Bengaluru, Tirupathi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi, Shencottai – Chennai daytime express train, Shencottai – Coimbatore Express and Tenkasi – Kollam, Madurai – Kollam train services in the morning and the evening were submitted to Mr. John Thomas.
Another petition prayed for the conversion of weekly thrice Chennai – Shencottai Silambu Express into daily service and extension of Coimbatore – Madurai service up to Shencottai.
After the inspection at Shencottai, Mr. John Thomas inspected the safety of tracks, signals and the bridges in Shencottai – Virudhunagar section.
