TAMBARAM: Minister of State for Railways R. Velu on Saturday said there was a possibility of providing a rail link between Ambattur and Sriperumbudur, provided industrial units were involved as stakeholders.

Participating at a function in Tambaram where Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin laid the foundation stone for a Road Over Bridge (ROB) in Tambaram and a Grade Separator at Pallikaranai, Mr. Velu said a link from Chennai Central was ruled out, owing to the amount of development on that route. Responding to an earlier request from elected representatives from Sriperumbudur (D.Yadosha, MLA of Congress and A. Krishnaswamy, MP of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) for a rail link, the Minister said technical studies had already been conducted in the past for train services linking Sriperumbudur either with Chennai Central or Ambattur.

"It is very much possible, but you should take the responsibility of engaging industrial units in the belt as stakeholders in the project," Mr. Velu remarked.

On other projects, he said Railway Minister Laloo Prasad had given his consent for doubling of track between Villupuram and Dindigul and the proposal was sent to the Planning Commission. Only when doubling of tracks and electrification of routes were in place, could additional train services be introduced, he said.

Road Over Bridges

Work on twelve Road Over Bridges on the suburban sector between Chennai Beach and Chengalpattu was in progress, but some of them were getting delayed, as they had to get land from the Defence Ministry. After laying the foundation stone for the project, Mr. Stalin said work on 10 bridges with financial assistance to the tune of Rs. 120 crore from National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts would be taken up. Under tsunami relief and rehabilitation schemes, 13 bridges at a cost of Rs. 39.5 crore in these two districts would be built.

He recalled that in their previous tenure, the DMK government had allotted Rs. 94.5 crore to build bridges in different parts of the city, but they saved Rs. 30 crore at the time of their completion. And now, work would soon commence on building bridges in different parts of the city to improve traffic conditions and increase infrastructure.

Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T.R.Baalu said the bridge under construction near Chennai airport would be completed in September and the grade separator at Kathipara, a month or two later.

State Highways Minister Vellakoil Saminathan said detailed project reports for a scheme to widen roads and building bridges on Vandalur-Wallajahbad; Singaperumal Koil-Oragadam-Sriperumbudur stretches were completed and work would commence soon. The Rs. 38.5 crore ROB in Tambaram was scheduled for completion in March 2009 and the Rs. 13.2 crore grade separator at Pallikaranai by October 2008 and hoped they would be completed six months ahead of time.

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