CHENNAI: The travel time of express and suburban trains between Chennai and Gummidipundi is set to come down as the work on the fourth line between Korukkupet and Thiruvottriyur is nearing completion.
The 5-km track between Thiruvottriyur and Korukkupet, a part of the 4th lane works between Chennai Beach and Athipattu, will ease the traffic as trains can be accommodated on the additional tracks.
“Trains received at Korukkupet can be diverted to Chennai Egmore/ Chennai Beach through one section, while another section will allow the smooth passage of trains bound for Basin Bridge,” said a railway official.
The Chennai-Athipattu-Gummidipundi-Gudur section is one of the busiest in the Southern Railway, as it handles suburban trains, passenger trains, express and goods trains throughout the day.
The trains had to compete with each other for getting the green signal in both directions. According to official records, track utilisation percentage of double lines in the Chennai-Gummidipundi section exceeded 120 in 2011.
To cater to the additional demand, the Railways proposed to develop 21.5-km 3rd and 4th tracks between Chenani Beach and Athipattu at the cost of `150 crore. However, the project has got stuck in the land acquisition issue for several years.
As the works did not progress in the Chennai Beach-Korukkupet stretch, the Railways has taken up additional track laying on Korukkupet- Athipattu section.
The third line between Korukkupet and Athipattu was thrown open for traffic in October 2014, while the fourth line in the Athipattu-Ennore-Thiruvottriyur section was also put into service in 2016.
“The five-km portion between Korukkupet and Thiruvottriyur will be opened in a month,” said a senior railway official.
“While expediting the Chennai Beach-Korukkupet third line, the Railways should extend the third and fourth lines upto Gummidipundi. The Railways should develop a dedicated double line between Chennai Beach and Gummidipundi,” demanded R Venkatesan of the Rail Passengers Association of Thiruvottriyur.
Chennai: To facilitate engineering works for laying an additional track between Thiruvottriyur and Korukkupet, the Southern Railway has changed the train operations for Thursday. According to an official statement, the Chennai MMC-Avadi EMU leaving Moore Market Complex at 2.05 pm and the MMC-Gummudipundi EMU leaving MMC at 12.15 am will be fully cancelled. Similarly, the Avadi-MMC EMU leaving Avadi at 2.50 pm and the Gummudipundi-MMC EMU leaving Gummudipundi at 02.45 pm also stand cancelled. The Gummudipundi-MMC EMU local scheduled to leave Gummudipundi at 04.00 am will be partially cancelled between Gummudipundi-Ponneri. The Chennai-Vijayawada Pinakini Express scheduled to leave at 2.05 pm will be rescheduled by 1 hour.