New SR division at Salem will be commissioned on Aug 15: Velu

Chennai, Apr 5 (UNI) The new Railway division of Southern Railway with its headquarters at Salem will be commssioned from August 15 this year, for which works were going on in full swing, Union Minister of state for Railways R Velu said here today.

Addressing a press conference after reviewing the developmental works and the performance of the Southern railway Mr Velu pointed out that the control room and other immediate essential offices will be ready by August 15.

He said new buildings for the new division would come up within a couple of years.

He said as per the request of the Southern railway the Chief Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Government has asked the Salem District Collector to acquire suitable land for the new division.

To a question, the minister said the funds were not a constraint for the new division and added out of sanctioned Rs 20 crore, a sum of Rs 3 crore has been earmarked in the current railway budget.

He said Southern Railway had registered an all-time high in overall earnings both in passenger and freight traffic, of Rs 3,100 crore in 2006-07, as against Rs 2,564 crore in the year 2005-06.

He said revenue from passenger traffic was Rs 1,649 crore in the year as against Rs 1,363 crore the previous year. The freight earning was Rs 1,190 crore as against Rs 1,000 crore in 2005-06.

He said Southern Railway had carried 551 million of passengers in the year 2006-07, as against 495 million in the previous year.

UNI