Rajen Gohain Laid Foundation Stone for Rs.3618 Crore Rail Doubling

NAGERCOIL:
Rajen Gohain, Union Minister of State of Railways laid the foundation stone for Rs.3618 crore doubling with electrication projects covering 349 kms in Kanniyakumari-Nagercoil-Thiruvananthapuram section at a function held in Nagercoil Junction Railway station.
Besides laying the foundation stone for three infrastructural projects, Rajen Gohain inaugurated/dedicated Escalator facility, Wi-Fi services and 100% LED lighting facilities at Nagercoil Junction Railway station. Pon Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping, Kadambur Raju, Minister for Information & Publicity, Govt. of Tamilnadu, A. Vijayakumar, M.P., J.G.Prince, MLA, N.Suresh Rajan, MLA, S.Austin, MLA and H.Vasantha Kumar, MLA participated and graced the occasion.
R.K.Kulshrestha, General Manager, Southern Railway welcomed the dignitaries and addressed the gathering. Prakash Bhutani, DRM, Trivandrum, Neenu Ittyerah, DRM, Madurai, Prinicipal Heads of Departments ,Officers and staff of Southern Railway participated in the function.
Speaking on the occasion, Pon Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping expressed his happiness about the sanction accorded by Central Government for the entire Rs 4000 crore rail development project. He added that he is thankful to Prime Minister of India and Union Railway Minister in this regard. He said the joint efforts of the Centre and state Governments will bring revolutionary changes in Kanniyakumari Region.
Rajen Gohain, Union Minister of State of Railways while addressing the gathering stated that Indian Railways is taking continued efforts to enhance facilities for passengers . He said that more customer-oriented facilities are being implemented. He lauded Southern Railways’ efforts to implement 100% LED at all stations and praised Southern Railways’ initiatives to eliminate Level Crossings thus ensuring safety of rail users. The minister added that the Outlay for Tamilnadu this fiscal year 2017-18 is Rs.2287 crores, which is an increase of about 160% over the financial years from 2009-10 to 2016-17 and the increase in the outlay for Passenger amenities from Rs.33 crore in the fiscal 2016-17 to Rs.38 crore in 2017-18. The minister, on a concluding note stated that he was delighted to visit Kanniyakumari which has seen the footprints of Swami Vivekananda.
The minister received representations from various passenger associations who appealed for running of more services and provision of infrastructural developments in the region.