NE priority for new rail connectivity: Minister

New Delhi, May 4 (UNI) Asserting that railways connectivity with the North-East topped the priority for laying new railway lines, the Railways today said the Finance Ministry had sanctioned Rs 1076 crores for seven of the 14 new projects.

Answering questions and supplementaries regarding the criteria for laying new rail lines and gauge conversion, Minister of State for Railways R Velu said the delay in connecting Arunachal Pradesh by rail was because of the alignment being changed twice.

He said the fact that it was the Finance Ministry which was providing the financial support for the projects showed how important the projects were for connecting the strategically important states having international border.

To a question on providing more trains to Kerala, the minister said there were sufficient train services and the Railways was running 380 summer specials from Kerala to Mumbai, Chennai, Mangalore, Bangalore, Hubli and Delhi to tackle extra rush during 2007-08.

The frequency of Thiruvananthapuram-Bangalore and Kannur-Yashwantpur trains had been increased to tri-weekly from weekly. The MPs demanded that these should be made daily trains.

UNI