COIMBATORE: Southern railway has sanctioned a project to develop Irugur , Uthukuzhi and Vanjipalayam into full-fledged stations. As a first step, their platforms would be raised and extended to accommodate all 24 coaches of a train. The move could pave way for more suburban trains and goods trains to be introduced towards the poultry and garment hub of the region.A senior official with the railway engineering department said while tenders to extend platforms at Irugur have been finalized, tenders for Uthukuzhi and Vanjipalayam were yet to be floated. “The process of issuing tenders should be completed in another three months or so. In Irugur, we have a to raise the platform height, while in Uthukuzhi and Vanjipalayam, platform length has to be extended by 280m.”While Irugur is already an established goods station hub, Uthukuzhi and Vanjipalayam sations, which are near Tirupur, would also be developed. “As of now, we just plan to identify all the stations in our divisions, including the smaller and less utilized ones, with small platforms. Since all passenger trains would have 24 coaches from now on, we want to extend all platforms, so that they can accommodate all the coaches,” said Subba Rao, Salem divisional railway manager. “We have received approval for the project and funds for the same at a recent meeting with MPs in Chennai.”The division is yet to decide if they want to make a few passenger trains stop at these stations or make them goods stations. “We have enough freight stations now in terms of Coimbatore North and Irugur. With many passenger trains being express trains, we cannot make them stop at every small station. They can only stop at the main stations. Let the stations first get developed. Then we will decide on how to utilize them,” the divisional railway manager said.However, Coimbatore is likely to get more attention as it’s a fast-growing city within the Salem division. “Our tracks are saturated with traffic. “We can introduce more trains, including suburban trains, only after bettering the infrastructure ,” Subba Rao said.

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