Railways to lay third line to transport minerals

New Delhi, Aug 29 (UNI) Railways Minister Lalu Prasad today said the Railways would be laying a third line to transport minerals and industrial corridors at the cost of Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 crore with the help of Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA).

Replying to the debate on Railways Appropriation Bill, 2007 providing for Rs 270 crore towards defraying expenses from out of the Consolidated Fund of India, the minister said the Railways had made a turnaround earning a surplus of Rs 20,000 crore.

Recently, Japanese Prime Minister was in the country having discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over extending his country's help to build infrastructure. Such being the case the Railways doesn't want to be miserly and would not mind investing for laying the third line to transport mines and mineral rich areas and the industrial corridors, the minister added.

He said transport of goods and minerals would be in the interest of Railways and its revenues.

Third lines would be laid in urban areas for facilitating the movement of local trains, he informed.

He also announced the running of three trains one from Hardwar to Rameshwaram and would consider the demand to link pilgrim centres as demanded by members. The money sought by the Railways was to convert wooden sleepers into cushions and to link Udhampur with Srinagar.

When he announced the Railways would run Gadar Express between Barakpur-Kanpur and Jhansi, there was resistance from the BJP benches, particularly Ms Sushma Swaraj and Mr S S Ahluwalia who objected to the word 'Gadar' to express the feeling of the Uprising of 1857. This was the freedom movement and it would be wrong to use translated English phrase 'Mutiny' when it can conveniently name the train as 'Sangram' Express.

The Railways Minister said it was still in the proposal stage and hinted that there could be a rethink about the name of the train.

EDS: Pls pick up suitably from earlier series.

UNI