New Delhi, July 6
Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav today proposed 15 additional express trains to be introduced apart from the 17 Sampark Kranti Express trains announced by his predecessor Nitish Kumar in the Interim Budget.
He also announced that 10 services were being extended and the frequency of 12 popular trains was being increased. He proposed to double a total of 381 Km of rail lines during 2004-05.
In Punjab, doubling of Suchipind-Bhogpur, Madhopur-Bharoli and Mukerian-Mirthal of the Jallandhar-Jammu Tawi project are slated for completion during the year.
Among the new lines, the completion of the Chandigarh-Morinda section of the Chandigarh-Ludhiana project would provide a shorter, direct link between Chandigarh and Anandpur Sahib.
With regard to electrification, 504-km route have been electrified during 2003-04, which include Phagwara-Amritsar. The electrification of Ludhiana-Amritsar rail line has been completed and train services on electric traction began last year.
The 15 new trains proposed by Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav in the Railway Budget 2004-05 are as follows:
1. Muzaffarpur-Ahmedbad Jansadharan Express (weekly) 2. Chennai Central-Nagercoil Express (weekly) 3. Muzaffarpur-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Jansadharan Express (weekly) 4. Ramnagar-Moradabad passenger (daily) 5. Bangalore City-Bangarapet Express (daily) 6. Saharsa-Mansi passenger (daily) 7. Chararu-Takrala-Ambala Cantt DMU service (daily) 8. Chennai Egmore-Kumbakonam Express (daily) 9. Mysore-Dharwar Express (daily) 10.Chennai Central-Hubli Express (daily) 11.Chennai Egmore-Tenkasi-Sengottai Express (after gauge conversion) 12. Jaipur-Agra Fort Express (after gauge conversion) 13. Delhi-Faizabad Express 14. Indore-Patna Express via Faizabad (weekly) 15. Guwahati-Jhajha Express via Jasidih (weekly).
The 17 Samparak Kranti Express trains, linking several state capitals and different parts of the country with the national capital, are as follows:
Poorvottar Express from New Delhi to Guwahati, Andhra Pradesh SK Express from Delhi (Nizamuddin) to Secunderabad, Bihar SK Express from New Delhi to Darbhanga, Chattisgarh SK Express from Delhi to Durg, Gujarat SK Express from Delhi to
Ahmedabad, Jharkhand SK Express from New Delhi to Ranchi, Kerala SK Express from New Delhi to Trivandrum, Maharashtra SK Express from Delhi (Nizamuddin) to Mumbai (Bandra), Madhya Pradesh SK Express from Delhi (Nizamuddin) to Jabalpur, Orissa SK Express from New Delhi to Bhubaneshwar, Rajasthan SK Express from Delhi to Jodhpur, Tamil Nadu SK Express from Delhi to Madurai, UP SK Express from Delhi to Chitrakoot, Uttaranchal SK Express from Delhi to Kathgodam, West Bengal SK Express from New Delhi to Kolkata (Sealdah), Goa SK Express from Delhi to Madgaon and Uttar SK Express from Delhi to Udhampur to cater to the needs of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.
The frequency of Sampark Kranti trains will be decided depending on their patronage.
The Railway Minister also proposed to extend the destinations of the following trains:
(i) 9411/8412 Bhubaneshwar-Srikakulam Express up to Vishakhapatnam (ii) 8303/8304 Sambhalpur-Bhubaneshwar Express up to Puri (iii) 1 BSL /339 Bikaner-Bathinda passenger up to Abohar (iv) 4. 199/200 Jaipur-Bikaner passneger up to Suratgarh (v) 5. 7029/7030 Hyderabad-Ernakulam Sabri Express to Kochuveli (vi) 2069/2070 Raigarh-Dongargarh Janshatabi up to Gondia (vii) 5711/5712 New Jalpaiguri-Asansol Express up to Alipurduar on one hand and Ranchi on the other. (viii) 9049/9050 Rajendra Nagar-Valsad Express to Bandra terminus (ix) Two pairs of Mankapur-Katra passenger trains to Faizabad
Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav also proposed to increase the frequency of the following trains:
(i) 1067/1068 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Faizabad Saket Express from weekly to bi-weekly (ii) 2313/2314 New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express from five to daily. (iii) 6507/6508 Jodhpur-Bangalore Express from weekly to bi-weekly. (iv) 1017/1018 Bangalore-Mumbai Chalukya Express from tri-weekly to six days a week by cancelling 1049/1050 Dadar-Yashwantpur Express (bi-weekly). (v) 3149/3150 Sealdah-Alipurduar Kanchankanya Express from tri-weekly to four days a week.
Mr Yadav announced that his government would give a thrust to gauge conversion and set a target of 1,000 km for conversion into broad gauge. The gauge conversion is proposed in the following sections during 2004-05: Mazni-Saharsa, Bharatpur-Agra Fort of Agra Fort-Bandikui, Udaipur-Chittorgarh of Ajmer-Udaipur, Samukhtala Road-New Bongaigaon of New Jalpaiguri-New Bongaigaon, Manoharabad-Nizamabad of Secunderabad-Mudkhed, Adilabad-Kinwat of Mudkhed-Adilabad, Gondia-Balaghat of Jabalpur-Gondia, Ranchi-Lohardaga, Rupsa-Baripada of Rupsa-Bangriposi, Bankura-Sonamukhi of Bankura Damodar river railway line, Madurai-Manamadurai-Rameswaram, Thanjavur-Thiruvarur of Trichy-Nagore-Karaikal, Subramanya-Sakleshpur of Hassan-Mangalore, Bijapur-Bagalkot of Solapur-Gadag, Sihor-Palitana of Surendranagar-Pipavav, Viramgam-Mehsana of Bhildi-Viramgam and Barsoil-Radhikapur of Katihar-Jogbani and Katihar-Radhikapur.
