Vellore, Aug 24: An amount of Rs 600 crore had been sanctioned for eight railway projects in Tamil Nadu, which would be completed in the year 2004, Union Minister of State for Railways, A K Murthy said today. The minister was speaking after inaugurating the extension of the Jollarpettai-Arakkonam mainline Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) to Chennai Central from here.

He said that once a week Nellai Express, via Katpadi, would be introduced from September 12. If there was good response from the public, the railways would consider making it a daily train service. The minister said an amount of Rs 93 crore had been allotted for an additional broad gauge line between Dindigul and Madurai, a distance of 60 km.

An amount of Rs one crore had been allotted for survey work, to convert the Katpadi-Villupuram metre gauge line into broad gauge, he said. Regarding the anti-collision devices (ACDs), to be fitted onto trains, he said Rs 800 crore had been allotted for the project all over India.

Union Minister of State for Food Processing, N T Shanmugham, presided.

Bureau Report