CHENNAI: With the Centre loosening purse strings for certain projects of the Southern Railway, the zone will be able to expedite projects already underway in the city, including doubling work along Beach-Korukkupet, Beach-Athipet, Tambaram-Chengalpet-Villupuram lines.
The Centre sanctioned Rs 5 crore for Beach-Korukkupet line, Rs 40 crore for Beach-Athipet line and Rs 2 crore for Tiruvallur-Arakkonam line.
Sources said the funds would help expand railway infrastructure in and around Chennai, which will mean more suburban trains and long-distance passenger trains, all without affecting traffic on the mainline.
The budget, however, does not offer much scope to expand the railway network in the state as the allocation for new lines, including sanctioned work, is meagre to the extent of Rs 1,000 just to keep them alive. For instance, the new project line, Tiruvallur-Arakkonam - 4th line (26.83km), has been sanctioned Rs Rs1,000. Lines such as Tindivanam-Gingee-Tiruvannamalai, Tindivanam-Nagari, Athipattu-Puttur, Erore-Palani, Chennai-Cuddalore (via Mamallapuram), Sriperumbudur-Guduvancherry and Morappur-Dharmapuri too received meagre allocation to keep the projects alive.
An official said projects that were under construction and those on the verge of completion have been sanctioned the maximum funds. The zone did not get much funds for new lines that were sanctioned or included in the budget over the past five years or more.
Money is being allotted in such a way to quickly finish work that is already nearing completion and for priority work required for expansion of railway lines in the state. The new lines would get the required funds when work progresses, while the current allocation must be for surveys and preliminary work, said another official.
Officials, however, said the current budget allocation is also not much. “It means that it will take decades for the ongoing work to get completed,” said a source.