The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Villupuram-Tiruchi BG rail section electrified

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Wednesday, Apr 01, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Villupuram-Tiruchi BG rail section electrified

S. Vydhianathan

It will be ready for traffic in the last week of April

Electrical Inspector accords sanction for charging the 25 KV section
Commissioner of Railway Safety expected to clear it in third week of April

CHENNAI: Electrification of the Villupuram-Tiruchirapalli broad gauge section (160 km) is complete and the electric traction will be available for passenger and freight traffic from the fourth week of April.

The Electrical Inspector has accorded sanction for charging the 25 KV section. Now the Commissioner of Railway Safety will be approached for safety clearance. The CRS is expected to inspect the section, probably in the third week of April.

The CRS had cleared a portion of the section from Villupuram to Ariyalur and goods trains are being operated there. After getting the mandatory clearance from the Safety Commissioner for the remaining stretch i.e from Ariyalur to Tiruchirapalli, the Villupuram-Tiruchirapalli electric traction will be opened for traffic.

Electrification of the section will result in reducing running time of trains to a great extent.

R.P.Udayakumar, Chief Project Manager, (CPM) Central Organisation for Railway Electrification, Chennai, told The Hindu on Tuesday that the section was part of the Villupuram-Tiruchirapalli-Madurai-Nagercoil/Tuticorin electrification project, sanctioned by the Railway Board.

Now work was in progress from Tiruchirapalli to Madurai. Wiring had been completed up to Dindigul and overhead equipment test-charged. Railways had to do some adjustment works and carry out works at joints before approaching the Electrical Inspector for charging the section. After that the Safety Commissioner would be approached for inspecting the electric traction. There would be three sub-stations between Tiruchirapalli and Madurai, one each at Vyampatti, Vellode and Kudal Nagar.

He said that by June this year all these formalities would be over. The target date for completing the Dindigul - Madurai section, a double line section, would be March 2010 and the work would be completed well before that, he added.

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