Water train from Jolarpet makes its last trip to Chennai

It has made 159 trips since July

Updated - October 09, 2019 10:59 am IST - VELLORE

Swan song: The 50-wagon train starting from Jolarpet on its final trip to Chennai on Tuesday.

Swan song: The 50-wagon train starting from Jolarpet on its final trip to Chennai on Tuesday.

The water train from Jolarpet, considered a lifeline for parched Chennai residents, made its final run on Tuesday.

Since July, when the service started, it has made 159 trips, Chennai Metrowater said officials.

The first trip had 25 lakh litres of water pumped from Parsampettai, near the railway yard, which is nearly 3.5 km away from the ground level water sump at Mettusakkarakuppam.

 

Pipelines were laid up to Parsampettai, from where wagons were filled with water intended for the Metrowater filling point located in Chennai. With each trip, around 2.75 million litres of water was brought from Jolarpet in 50 wagons.

In June, when the city was reeling under acute water shortage, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced that his government had sanctioned funds to the tune of ₹65 crore for transporting 10 mld (million litres per day) drinking water from Jolarpet to Chennai for six months.

Special pipelines

Pipelines were laid along the Second Main Road, South Jagannathan Nagar, Villivakkam, to decant water received by train.

 

It ran along the railway track and linked to a conduit line that normally carried water from the Puzhal lake in Red Hills. The water was sent to the Kilpauk water works from where it would reach areas in central and north Chennai.

“Our ground water levels have improved. Storage levels at Poondi, Puzhal, Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam stand at 899 million cubic feet (mcft) against a storage capacity of 1,1257 mcft. Besides, we are getting Krishna water,” a senior Metrowater official said.

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