194 trains to be run during fest
Member, Rolling Stock, Railway Board, Rajesh Agrawal visited the East Coast Railway (ECoR) and reviewed various activities. He appreciated the ECoR for the quickest possible restoration of train services after Cyclone Fani.
He said the station building at Puri would be ready in all respects as it was or even better than pre-cyclone stage. The entire station would be ready to receive all Rathyatra special trains. As many as 194 special trains would be run.
Besides, he said the ECoR is having 15 rakes of LHB coaches and it would have a special type of wagons to carry four-wheeler automobiles and 2-wheelers from far off production places to the area.
Phase-II of MEMU Shed at Khurda Road is sanctioned. This will help in converting all passenger trains in the area to MEMU coaches. Mechanised Laundry at Puri and Bhubaneswar are likely to be functional very soon in next three months.
All coaches would have VENTURI system run by East Coast Railway. 96 per cent of coaches of East Coast Railway have bio-toilets fitted. The rest 4 per cent would be fitted very soon. Besides, ‘Head On Generation’ (HOG) tech will replace conventional power cars in trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, etc.
Finally, Agarwal revealed that the ECoR has suffered a total loss of Rs 600 crore due to the Fani. Of this, Rs 400 crore is in the form of damages and Rs 200 crore is in the form of loss in earning capacity. The ECoR has asked for special financial package to help in restoration works.