Chennai To Jolarpettai Train Services Disrupted

Railway High tension lines of about 25000 watts capacity that provide power to an Electric Train, unfortunately, breaks down on a railway track at Thiruvallangadu in Thiruvallur District of TamilNadu. Following this, the train services between Chennai and Jolarpettai got interrupted and the trains had been parked in the railway track then and there.

The officials from Tamil Nadu Electricity Board arrived at the spot immediately and cut off the electricity and involved in restructuring the broken-down electric line. Because of this, the train services in these lines were delayed for about 2 hours.

Already, a similar scenario occurred on March 30 when a high tension railway line broke down near Jolarpettai that lead to rail transport interruption for 5 hours. It was said that Electricity Board officials were not proper in the maintenance of Railway Electric cable lines thus leading to frequent interruption.

Chennai and Jolarpettai are at a distance of 214 km by train route and it takes around 3 hours to travel. There are about 6 halts and 54 intermediate stations between Chennai and Jolarpettai. More than 60 trains would be crossing the Jolarpettai junction from the Chennai Central. Out of these, about 38 trains start from Chennai while the remaining trains pass from Chennai.

Though the maximum permitted speed (MPS) limit in this track is 110 kmph, the trains are usually operated between 130 and 135 kmph to counter the delay and reach the Chennai Central Railway Junction at correct arrival time. Making notice of this, Railway Board Chairman Ashwini Lohani instructed the Southern Railway to increase the MPS to 130 kmph by April 13. This would reduce the travel time to about 15 minutes.

Chennai Central - Jolarpettai electrified double line is said to be the busiest line in the Southern Railway Zone and the track was strengthened enough to bear the speed of 150 kmph, said by Railway Officials. According to the Union Budget 2018-19 unveiled in the first week of February, Tamil Nadu has received Rs. 2548 crore for electrification, making double tracks, new railway lines, conversion from meter gauge to broad gauge and others. As per Central Govt's target, about 319 km long tracks need to be electrified in Tamil Nadu this year.