Special Correspondent
Minister inspects development works at Villupuram junction
VILLUPURAM: As many as 185 railway stations across the country, including the Villupuram junction, have been identified as vulnerable to sabotage or terrorist attacks, Union Minister of State for Railways R. Velu said here on Saturday.
He was addressing presspersons after inspecting ongoing development works in the Villupuram junction.
A high-level committee had been formed to decide on the kind of human interface necessary to protect the vulnerable stations.
Those at Tiruchy, Coimbatore, Central Station, Chennai, and Egmore came under this category. Security would be intensified , passengers would be frisked, closed-circuit television sets would be installed and sniffer dogs would be deployed at these stations, he said.
Mr. Velu said the Villupuram junction’s status had been upgraded from “B” to “A”, as its annual transactions had risen to Rs.6.5 crore from Rs.3 crore.
Rs.10 crore had been allotted for platform extension, construction of office buildings, re-modelling the yards and the front edifice. It would be made an exclusive passenger junction, with the goods yard shifting to Mundiampakkam.
The number of platforms would go up from three to six.
Ample space would be provided for parking lots. The major thrust of the Railways was to facilitate the intermodal system, in which there would be convergence of road and rail transport, he said.
On Pamban
Mr. Velu said three agencies, the Engineering Division of the Railways, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, and the Structural Engineering Department of the State Government, had certified the safety of the Pamban Bridge, which underwent gauge conversion recently.
With a view not to inconvenience devotees at Rameswaram on the Aadi Amavasya day, the inauguration venue had been shifted to Madurai. Two pairs of trains would be run between Madurai and Rameswaram, he said.
He said doubling of the Villupuram-Tambaram line and electrification of tracks for a distance of 100 km would be taken up at a cost of Rs.250 crore.
Electrification of the Villupuram-Tiruchi traction would be completed by March 2008.
The gauge conversion on the Villupuram-Maiyladuthurai sector had slowed down due to floods in the Gedilam, the Coleroon and the Pennaiyar, Mr. Velu said.
R.C. Jat, DRM, and P.V.V. Reddy, Senior Divisonal Engineer, accompanied the Minister.