The Hindu : Front Page : Madurai-Dindigul track doubling to begin next month

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 10, 2005

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Madurai-Dindigul track doubling to begin next month

S. Vijay Kumar

MADURAI: The Madurai-Dindigul broad gauge doubling work is set to commence in December. The construction wing of the Southern Railway has already floated tenders for the construction of bridges, earthwork and ballast.

The long-pending project will not only ease traffic between Madurai and Dindigul, the most congested section on the Chennai Egmore-Nagercoil corridor, but also enable introduction/extension of more trains to southern destinations. Sanctioned in 2003-04, the Rs.112-crore project will provide a BG line on the existing metre gauge alignment along the 62.05 km stretch.

One-time allocation

Since the MG bridge across the Vaigai river in Madurai was not found to be strong enough to accommodate BG traffic, the engineers had decided to construct a new bridge spanning 319.5 metres, official sources said.

While forwarding the detailed estimate to the Railway Board for financial sanction, engineers hope that a one-time allocation would be made in the ensuing budget for expediting the project.

Though no timeframe has been finalised yet for the completion of works, engineers are planning to take up laying new tracks by June 2006 after closing the Madurai-Dindigul MG section to traffic.

Island sections

While the doubling project will create two new island sections — Dindigul-Palghat and Bodinaickanur-Madurai — sources said the Tiruchi-Karaikudi MG section, the only link to the Goldenrock Workshop at Tiruchi, was also likely to be closed in a couple of months.

Though two former Southern Railway General Managers had strongly opposed closure of the Tiruchi-Karaikudi section and suggested that the proposed BG track be laid along the MG alignment, to maintain connectivity to the Goldenrock Workshop, the Railway Board is said to have overruled it.

A senior official in the Madurai Division said efforts were on to include the Virudhunagar-Manamadurai gauge conversion project in the next budget. The 50-km line would provide an alternative BG route for goods/passenger traffic from Virudhunagar to Tiruchi, via Karaikudi.

The Manamadurai-Mandapam conversion work was nearing completion, the official said.

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