Chennai Port to get two more rail lines
Fed up with congested roads and poor connectivity, the Chennai Port Trust has turned to the railways for help, reported The Times of India. It is planning to add two more railway lines inside the port and a proposal in this regard has been finalised by the Union shipping ministry.
A senior ministry official said the plan would be submitted to the Railway Board next week immediately after the Union cabinet clears it.
Currently, about seven percent of container traffic (7.69 million tonnes) is transported through two railway lines at the port. The proposed third and fourth lines are expected to increase the cargo traffic from seven percent to 30 percent within two years.
CPT chairman Atulya Misra said the additional lines would help reduce the congestion on city roads.
"While we take efforts to develop better roads, it is also necessary to have advanced railway connectivity so that roads are free of container trucks," said Misra. "The third and fourth lines will be laid by the railways soon," he added. At present, about 5,000 container trucks ply on city roads.
The port management was not keen on the railway project as it had a handful of road infrastructure projects.
"Since road improvement projects are caught up in bottlenecks, administrative hurdles and are likely to get delayed further, we are looking at railway freighter services," said a senior port official.
He said CPT had already identified the land for laying the additional two lines and were finalising the land values. Official sources said the regional railway authority and the port management completed the preliminary discussions on the project. Port officials said four private players, including international exporters and fertiliser manufacturers, have shown interest in bringing in cargo through rail.
S Anantharaman, divisional railway manager, Southern Railways, said the Railways are ready to tie up with Chennai port in evacuating the cargo.
"Be it container or any other cargo, we do not have any constraints. We can also supply adequate number of wagons and locomotives," he said.
The second container terminal at the port is already connected with railway lines. CPT is also planning to develop an inland container depot at Tondiarpet.