K.A. Manoharan, Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, Bengaluru, and Naveen Gulati, Southern Railway Divisional, Railway Manager along with a team of officials conducted an inspection on the newly-laid broad gauge railway line between Arakkonam and Thakkolam on Friday.
Trial runs
The team conducted an endurance test of the tracks and a high speed trial run between the end points. Speaking to the press, Mr. Manoharan said the laying of 9.5 km line between Thakkolam and Arakkonam was completed at a cost of ₹55 crore.
The decision to run trains on the newly electrified line is expected soon. “After the track work is completed, a few suburban train services from Tambaram are likely to get extended up to Arakkonam, which is the long pending demand of railway commuters,” Mr. Gulati said.
The completion of the new line will enable trains to operate in the 235.5-km circular route starting from the Chennai Beach Station and going through Tambaram, Chengalpet, Kancheepuram, Thirumalpur, Arakkonam, Tiruvallur and Perambur.
Naval airbase
The line’s progress had been delayed by more than 10 years after INS Rajali naval airbase near Arakkonam opposed it for security reasons.
However, the Defence Ministry later accepted to bear the cost of a detour alignment between Arakkonam and Thakkolam, which is 2 km longer than the actual route.
In 2016, after an inordinate delay, the work commenced after the Defence Ministry deposited ₹54.57 crore for the project.
