Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, inaugurated a slew of infrastructure projects in four states- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka- through video conferencing on Sunday.
Numbering 88, these projects were related to infrastructure development, passenger amenities, energy efficiency besides safety.
Kerala
Foot-over-bridges (FOBs) at 3 locations Kollam, Kundara and Kochuveli costing Rs 9.56 crore.
Lifts at Kanhangad and Aluva costing Rs1.60 crore.
Video Surveillance Systems(VSS) for better surveillance at 15 locations costing Rs.9.45 Crore. Monitored centrally at Chennai, VSS has been installed at Alleppey, Aluva, Chengannur, Ernakulam Town, Kayankulam, Tiruvalla, Kottayam, Badagara, Kannur, Kasaragod, Palakkad Jn, Tirur, Thalassery, Kanhangad and Payyanur.
At Thiruvananthapuram Central and Thrissur, stations airport type illumination of covered platforms has been provided at a total cost of Rs.42 lakhs.
Platform raising works at Tanur railway station costing Rs.1.39 Crore has been done besides commissioning 100 Kwp Solar Plants at Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram costing Rs.42 lakhs.
TamilNadu
FOBs at 10 locations at a cost of 23.32 crore has been opened. They are Ambattur, Arakkonam, Elavur, Mambalam, Mettupalayam, Tiruppur, Gangaikondan , Kadayanallur,Nagercoil Jn and Vanchi Maniyachchi .
Escalators have been commissioned at 6 stations namely, Egmore, Mambalam, Tambaram, Tiruvallur, Erode, Thanjavur at a total cost of Rs.16.61 crore. Lifts costing Rs.2.38 Crore have been provided at Coimbatore Jn and Nagercoil Jn railway stations.
VSS for better surveillance costing Rs 10.01 crore has been installed at 18 locations namely Chengalpattu, Thiruvallur, Erode, Salem, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Mayiladuthurai, Thanjavur, Villupuram and 8 other stations with Central Monitoring System in Chennai.
Improved passenger amenities costing Rs 4 crore have been provided at several stations namely – Multi level two-wheeler parking at Katpadi, Double discharge Platform at Guindy, Second Entry Circulating Area and Booking Office at Arakkonam, PRS centre and Station building at Nagercoil Town and Passenger convenience facility with ATM complex at Madurai to name a few.
Karnataka
Gubbi-Nittur 9 km doubling as a part of the 96 km Arsikere- Tumakuru doubling project. The project was sanctioned at a cost of Rs 783 crore.
Gubbi-Nittur has been doubled at a cost of Rs.75.5 crore. This includes construction of two major and 15 minor bridges.Passenger amenities at Gubbi and Nittur platform shelter, high level platforms, FOB, toilets, benches and water booths.
Chikkodi-Raybag (14-km) doubling as part of the 186-km Londa-Miraj doubling (sanctioned cost Rs 1191 crore).
The new station building at Raybag has upgraded passenger amenities such as two new platforms, one FOB, circulating area and an AC waiting hall
Madhya Pradesh
The Centre has allocated Rs 7700 crore for various railway projects in Madhya Pradesh.
These include
– solar power plant in Rewa
– three lifts costing Rs 92 lakh at Gwalior
– Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd’s redevelopment of Gwalior station
– Electrification of 189.46 km Ratlam-Chittorgarh section to avoid change of locos from Ratlam saving Rs 27.54 crore per annum. Cost of electrification is Rs 205.44 crore.
-Teegaon to Chichonda 3rd Ghat line (17 Km) was completed and commissioned in December 2020. It has a ruling gradient of 1 in 65, sharpest curve is 4.95 degree, maximum depth of rock cutting is 22.75 meter and maximum height of bank is 16.13 meter. The commissioning involved major yard remodelling at Chichonda and Teegaon yards.
Due to steep gradient, a catch cum slip siding has been provided at Ghudankhapa and Teegaon yard.
– Lifts at Betul and Pandhurna stations
Goyal also flagged off a passenger service from Rewa to Itwari.