Chennai: Of the total Rs 2,287 crore allocated for railway development projects in Tamil Nadu in 2017-2018, a major share has been allocated for electrification, and safety-related tasks like construction of road over bridges, under bridges and subways.
In all, Rs 404.16 crore has been allocated for the electrification work on the Villupuram-Cuddalore Port-Mayiladuturai-Thanjavur and Mayiladuturai-Thiruvarur routes, and the Bengaluru-Omalur route via Hosur, an official statement from the Southern Railway said.
Nine roadover bridges, and 19 under bridges and subways have been proposed for the year, and an amount of Rs 382.39 crore has been sanctioned for the same, of which Rs 176.64 will be borne by the state.
The doubling of 11 km section between Salem – Magnesite Junction – Omalur will be undertaken at Rs 76.43 crore. There is an increase of 39.79 per cent in the fund allocation for Tamil Nadu in the current year budget, when compared to the year 2016-17. The outlay for passenger amenities for Tamil Nadu is Rs 38 crore as against Rs 33 crore during 2016-17 showing an increase of 15.15 percent.
Besides the fund allocation, the other major work that would be carried out in the state include the installation of CCTV cameras to enhance security, redevelopment of some stations, development of stations of religious importance and closure of unmanned level crossings to reduce the number of accidents.
In addition to the Clean My Coach and Clean Our Coach initiatives based on a text message, and Onboard Housekeeping Services (OBHS) on certain trains, Coach Mantri will be introduced as a new initiative that will be a single interface to all coach related complaints.
