Mamata’s flop rail show may haunt her

The fate of Rs 120-crore circular rail link from Dum Dum cantonment to the airport remains undecided as there are very few takers for it.

“The project incurred a huge cost since the four-kilometer rail track had to be constructed on an elevated ramp. It was constructed over Jessore Road. But hardly any passenger avail the rail link,” said a senior railway official.

The railway official said that no feasibility study was conducted on the project and as a result the project remained a non-starter.

Since it is a local train service and has five elevated stations,the airport-bound passengers do not bear the trouble to get into the trains. Moreover,there are only two pairs of trains that are currently under operation. Adding to this,the timings of the trains do not match the timings of the flights.

According to former Dum Dum MP,Amitabha Nandi,the elevated rail track is obstructing the airport modernisation project.

“The elevated track is coming on the path from where the flyover connecting the Belgharia expressway and the airport will be constructed. We received proposals from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for demolishing the existing structure of the elevated rail track. In the proposal,the AAI has said that it wants the airport to be connected through the East-West metro corridor,” said Nandi.

At present,the railway authorities feel that Banerjee should focus on the existing projects for which funds have been sanctioned but are not progressing due to the slow release of funds by the Centre.

“At present we have three existing projects. One is the laying of the third line from Panskura to Kharagpur,the second one is laying the double line from Haldia to Panskura and third one is laying a fourth line from Tikiapara to Santragachi so that the bottleneck is eased and access to the Howrah station is greater. All of these projects have been sanctioned but the process of allocating funds is very slow. So,we feel that the state will be benefited if Banerjee can expedite the ongoing projects,” said S Majumdar,spokesperson,South Eastern Railways.

Old project awaits Mamata
If Mamata Banerjee becomes the next Railway Minister,she will inaugurate the Rs 907-crore Tollygunj to Garia Metro rail extension project,which she had mooted in 1999 when she was an MP in the NDA government.

“The date has not yet been fixed. But we have started the trial run on the 8.5-kilometre Tollygunj-Garia Metro rail. If Mamata Banerjee becomes the Railway minister then the project will be inaugurated by her,” said P Dutta,spokesperson,Metro rail. ENS