The Hindu Business Line : Madurai-Nizamuddin Express from Sept 19

THE Union Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, will flag off the Madurai- Hazrat Nizamuddin Tamilnadu Sampark Kranti (bi-weekly) Express here on September 19.

The train will leave Madurai on Mondays and Saturdays and leave Hazrat Nizamuddin on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Minister will be inaugurating the newly-laid Rajapalayam-Tenkasi broad gauge line flagging of the Tenkasi-Chennai Egmore (weekly) Superfast Express, on September 20.

Mr Prasad will inspect the gauge conversion work in progress in the division and the Pamban bridge across the sea. Later, he is expected to leave for Kanyakumari, according to sources.

The Zonal President of the Southern Railway Mazdoor Union, Mr C.A. Raja Sridhar, in an appeal to the Railway Minister, has urged that all outsourced services be taken back to enable profitable utilisation of the available infra-structure and for protecting the jobs of hundreds of employees.

Welcoming the announcement by the Minister that 80,000 personnel would be recruited in two years for the safety and security of the railway services, he said that the recruitment should not be made through the Railway Recruitment Boards because such appointees often quit for better prospects.