TIRUCHI
With overhead electrification works completed in the Thanjavur – Tiruvarur broad section, the stretch is now set for mandatory inspection by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Bengaluru. The Commissioner of Railway Safety will inspect the electrified Thanjavur – Tiruvarur section on January 31 by travelling on board a special train. The electrification works has been carried out by the Central Organisation For Railway Electrification (CORE).
A senior CORE official told The Hindu on Tuesday that the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) would commence the inspection from Thanjavur Junction by travelling in a special train. He would be accompanied by top officials of the Southern Railway and Tiruchi Railway Division besides senior CORE officials.
The Commissioner of Railway Safety would examine all aspects relating to overhead electrification works in the nearly 55-km stretch from Thanjavur to Tiruvarur. He would conduct a speed trial run the same day from Tiruvarur to Thanjavur by travelling in the special train which would be hauled by an electric locomotive.
The speed trial run would be conducted at 90 km per hour which is the permitted speed in the Thanjavur – Tiruvarur single line section. The inspection by the Commissioner of Railway Safety comes after the CORE officials submitted relevant documents pertaining to completion of overhead electrification works in that stretch.
Only after obtaining statutory sanction from the Commissioner of Railway Safety would electric locomotive hauled trains be operated in the Thanjavur - Tiruvarur section. Presently, passenger and freight trains in the Thanjavur - Tiruvarur- Nagapattinam section were being hauled by diesel locomotive.
The Thanjavur - Tiruvarur electrification work is part of the Tiruchi - Thanjavur - Tiruvarur - Nagapattinam - Karaikal overhead electrification project being executed by the CORE at a cost of around ₹ 200 crore.
The CORE had already completed electrification in the double line stretch from Tiruchi to Thanjavur. The Commissioner of Railway Safety had already accorded mandatory sanction for operation of electric loco hauled passenger and freight trains in the Tiruchi - Thanjavur broad gauge section.
The CORE is simultaneously carrying out the electrification works in the final portion from Tiruvarur to Karaikal via Nagapattinam. The official said the project up to Karaikal was targeted for completion by March.
The CORE would thereafter take up overhead electrification works in the smaller sections from Nagapattinam to Velankanni and in the Nidamangalam - Mannargudi broad gauge stretch following sanction from the Railway Board, New Delhi. The stretch from Nagapattinam to Velankanni was expected to be completed by June. Tenders would be floated in the coming months for electrifying the Nidamangalam - Mannargudi section, the official said.
