Irugur 2nd Line Will Be Jan 09
The 16-km-long second railway line between Coimbatore and Irugur would be thrown open for traffic by January 2009, said Union Minister of State for Railways, R. Velu here on Sunday. He was talking to reporters after inspecting the ongoing development works along with Salem Divisional Manager S. Mohan and Chief Engineer of Southern Railway Bola Singh. The doubling of the railway line had been a long pending demand of the region. Mr.Velu said that works on three bridges were nearing completion and all of them would be over by December this year. Linking of tracks had almost been completed.
Mr.Velu said that works worth Rs. 3.15 crores had been completed. A number of platforms were being extended to accommodate 24 coaches. Passenger circulating area was being improved at Rs. 65 lakhs. Railway yards at Irugur, Peelamedu, Coimbatore North, Coimbatore, Podanur were being remodelled and improved. A proposal for introducing a Coimbatore – Bangalore Express was under consideration, he said. The proposal for extending the Thiruvananthapuram – Palakkad Express up to Coimbatore would also be examined.
He said that over a period of time, regularisation of the Coimbatore – Chennai – Coimbatore special train would be considered. Mr.Velu agreed to examine a suggestion for operating the idle rakes of the Coimbatore – Rajkot Express for running either as a weekly or bi-weekly train between Coimbatore – Tirupati. Mr. Velu and Mr. Mohan said that a proposal was under consideration for attaching four coaches to the Coimbatore – Nagercoil Express.
