V Ayyappan | TNN
July 4, 2009
Chennai: With just four new trains, the railway budget does not hold much promise for Tamil Nadu, even though it envisages more projects to enhance passenger amenities at different railway stations across the state. But the ministry has introduced nine trains for the zone.
The four new trains are Chennai-Delhi non-stop ‘Turant’ bi-weekly service, Madurai-Chennai bi-weekly Express, Kanyakumari-Rameshwaram Express (tri-weekly) via Madurai and Coimbatore-Shoranur Passenger (daily).
In a move that will benefit passengers travelling to Mangalore, railways have made the Chennai-Mangalore tri-weekly train into a daily service. The Madurai-Jammu Tawi Express has been extended to Tirunelveli while the Mangalore-Chennai Express has been extended to Puducherry. In a bid to improve passenger amenities, multi-functional facility centres that will have public call offices, medicine and variety stores, budget hotels and underground parking will be built at Kanyakumari, Madurai, Rameshwaram and Tiruchirapalli.
The budget brought no big cheer for the people of western Tamil Nadu as only an additional passenger train between Coimbatore and Shoranur in Kerala has been announced. Already two passenger trains run between Coimbatore and Shoranur daily, even though there has been a persistent demand for a passenger train between Coimbatore and Ernakulam, officials said. The newly-created Salem division of the Southern Railway has got no fresh project, the officials pointed out.
Railway minister Mamata Banerjee in her speech also said that pre-feasibility studies had been conducted to build an exclusive Chennai-Goa freight corridor. Besides, the Vellore-Villupuram section has been marked for gauge conversion. This would help the railways de-congest its southern trunk route.
South India, particularly Tamil Nadu, has not figured in her (Mamata Banerjee’s) scheme of things at all.
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