CHENNAI: Two years after Railway Board granted administrative sanction for developing the 4.3 km Chennai Egmore - Beach fourth line, the project received Rs 53 crore. The project is estimated to cost Rs 279 crore. The fourth line is part of the plans to develop a third terminal at Tambaram station as Chennai Central and Egmore stations cannot handle any more new trains. The completion of it is also essential for the railways to hand over Beach - Velachery MRTS section to metro rail.
The railways’ efforts to launch the project, however, faced bottlenecks, especially the incomplete land acquisition. A coordination meeting held by the Commissioner of Land Administration of the State government with the RBI and defence departments didn’t yield any result, official sources said. “All efforts are being made to complete land acquisition,” said a railway official.
The Tambaram - Chennai Egmore section has four lines - two for suburban and two for express trains. The Chennai Egmore - Beach route, however, has only three lines. While two lines are for suburban trains, the third is for express and goods trains in both directions. Beyond Chennai Beach, there are four lines up to Athipattu in the North Eastern line.
At present, Kakinada Port - Egmore Circar daily express and seven weekly express, including Bhubaneswar - Puducherry Superfast Express and Bhagat Ki Kothi - Mannargudi weekly, pass through the stretch.
Breather for Central
Work is underway to upgrade Tambaram terminal with additional platforms and a coach maintenance facility. A foot-over bridge has also been proposed to connect all the platforms on the northern side of the station. Once the work is complete, the railways plan to change the origination of a few north-bound trains to Tambaram from Chennai Central.
Without a fourth line between Beach and Egmore, however, it’s nearly impossible to operate new trains to Howrah, Patna, and Guwahati from Tambaram, official sources said. The construction works will commence only after completion of the land acquisition for the project. “When the railways is ready, more funds will be sought for the project,” added the official.