The Southern Railway has been granted funds for initiating the doubling of the railway track between Chennai Beach and Egmore.
In her Budget speech on February 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced allocation of ₹5 crore for the project.
Southern Railway General Manager John Thomas, during a virtual press meet on Friday, said the Railway Board had given the go-ahead for the doubling work.
Completion in 2022
The project, expected to be completed by 2022, would help in segregating suburban and long-distance train operations.
Mr. Thomas, who drew attention to the Centre’s push for railway infrastructure work, said between Chennai and Kanyakumari via Shornur, there would be two tracks for smooth operations of trains once all the doubling work is completed.
The Southern Railway would be executing some important doubling of track projects in the State, including the Madurai-Maniyachi-Thoothukudi, Maniyachi-Nagercoil and Omalur-Mettur dam patch doubling work.
While there was no mention of the allocation for the extension of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) from Velachery to St. Thomas Mount in the Budget, Mr. Thomas said the elevated track work had been completed till Adambakkam with the available funds.
The Southern Railway would soon be implementing train collision and avoidance system (TCAS) at a cost of ₹544 crore. Under this, even if a train jumped signal, accident would be averted. A train management system (TMS) for optimum utilisation of services in Chennai division would be commissioned at a cost of around ₹36 crore, Mr. Thomas added.
