Railway Minister Inaugurates Railway Projects

CHENNAI:
Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu Union Minister of Railways, during his visit on Saturday 4th March 2017 at Chennai Central Railway Station, in the presence of M.R.Vijayabhaskar, Minister for Transport, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, Dr.J.Jayavardhan, M.P, T.K.Rangarajan, M.P, Dr.V.Maitreyan, M.P, A.Navaneethakrishnan, M.P, K.S.Ravichandran, MLA, S.R.Raja, MLA, B.Sathyanarayanan, MLA at Chennai.
At Chennai Central Railway Station, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister of Railways inaugurated/dedicated the following facilities for rail users:-
Dedication of 5th and 6th Line between Moore Market Complex and Basin Bridge Junction Railway Stations
Dedication of Passenger Subway at Nemilichery Railway Station
Dedication of Wi-Fi Services at Chennai Egmore Railway Station
Dedication of New Circulating Area and Passenger Amenities at Second Entry and
Wi–Fi Services at Tambaram Railway Station
Inauguration of Double Discharge Platform at Mambalam Railway Station
Inauguration of Elevated Booking Office at Kodambakkam Railway Station
Inauguration of Foot Over Bridge and Elevated Booking Office at Tiruninravur Railway Station
Announcement of Extension of Chennai Manamadurai Silambu Bi-Weekly Express (16181/16182) to Sengottai Via Aruppukottai
Vashishta Johri, General Manager, Southern Railway welcomed the dignitaries and addressed the gathering. Anupam Sharma, Divisional Railway Manager, Chennai Division gave the vote of thanks. The function was well attended by Prinicipal Heads of the Depts of Railways, Officers and staff of Southern Railway and Members of the Public.
Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu told in his inaugural speech that Railway is focussing on enhancing Line Capacity, Safety, comforts of passengers and development of infrastructure keeping in mind not only the present demand but also the future development. As a result, huge investments are planned in safety and upgradation of technology. Out of Rs.131000 crores earmarked for Railways in the current Financial Budget of the Union of India, the Gross Budgetary support is 55,000 crores. The balance 66,000 crores is being raised by Railways. Railway has earmarked Rs.2287 crores for the state of Tamil nadu this year. He has appealed to the Govt of Tamil Nadu to form joint ventures to speed up prioritised areas of rail development in the state.The safety fund of Rs.1 lakh crores for five years being provided to ease safety of operations, speed, as well as comfort during travel.
Setting up of Non-Fare revenue directorate, earnings through energy savings, station development programmes, etc will also support the flow of funds in the required areas. Considering the demands of Public four streams of train services namely Humsafar, Anthodya, Tejas and Uday are being introduced. New Catering policy enables checking quality of food at the base kitchen, while serving wholesome food on trains. By upgrading technology, development of infrastructure, modernisation of coaches, providing high speed rail corridor, Indian Railway is transforming the economy by being the modern engine of growth. The Minister also informed that Coimbatore – Bangalore Train Service will be started soon.
M.R.Vijaya Bhaskar, Minister for Transport, Govt of Tamil Nadu, appealed to the Railway Minister to speed up the Madurai Kanniyakumari Doubling Project. The Members of Parliament, MLAs, gave representations regarding rail development in their respective constituencies. Passenger Associations as well as members of the public also gave their representations to the Railway Minister.
At Madurai Railway Station Sellur K.Raju, Minister for Co-operation, Govt of Tamil Nadu graced the occasion, P.V. Muralikrishna, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Dr. V. Padmalatha, Additional Chief Medical Superintendent, Southern Railway Madurai Division, participated in the function at Madurai. Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister of Railways dedicated Wi-Fi services at Madurai junction Railway Station through Video Conferencing from Chennai Central Railway Station.
At Sengottai Railway Station, M.Vasanthi, M.P, N.K.Premachandran, M.P, K.A.M.Muhammed Abubacker, MLA, C.Suresh Babu, President, Aryankavu Grama Panchayat were the dignitaries present. Sunil Kumar Garg, Divisional Railway Manager, Southern Railway Madurai Division and K. Raveendra Babu, Chief Engineer, Construction, Southern Raiway were participated in the function at Sengottai. Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister of Railways dedicated the new gauge converted BG line section between Sengottai and New Aryankavu to the nation.
Brief about the Projects that were Dedicated:
Madurai Junction is an A1 category station in Southern Railway. As part of Indian Railways’ initiative to establish Wi-Fi connectivity at all A1/A category stations, the facility is made available at Madurai Jn railway station in coordination with Google and Rail-Tel.
Passengers at Madurai Jn. will now have access to unlimited internet from all the platforms, Waiting halls, Ticket counter area, Main concourse area and Retiring rooms.
Built at an approximate cost of Rs.120 Crores, the newly converted 20 km section between Sengottai – Aryankavu New block is primarily a Ghat section with 6 major bridges and 72 minor bridges and a long tunnel. Braving difficult terrains and natural vagaries, the gauge conversion that includes major engineering works such as modification of bridges and tunnels to suit BG standards. Once fully completed, thi
s will be an alternate railway route between Kerala and Tamilnadu.