Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has welcomed the announcement of the first-ever rail auto hub to be set up near the city, which would cement Chennai’s position as a major automobile manufacturing centre not just in India but even internationally.
The Railway Budget carried considerable weight of anticipation and apprehension. The Railway Minister seems to have been buffeted by the headwinds facing him in terms of the overall slowdown in the international economy and the possible impact of the Seventh Pay Commission.
“I am happy that the Railway Minister has spared the common person and not levied any increase in the rail fares this year,” she said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While welcoming the announcement of the North-South Dedicated Freight Corridor from Delhi to Chennai, both this corridor and the proposed East Coast Corridor, which terminates in Vijayawada ought to have been extended to Thoothukudi. This would have fulfilled Tamil Nadu’s long standing request to create a Chennai-Thoothukudi dedicated freight corridor, she said in the letter to Prime Minister.
“I would have been happy to hear a specific update on the Diamond Quadrilateral High Speed rail corridors which were announced with considerable fanfare in last year’s Railway Budget,” she said.
“I do hope that with the enhanced capital budget and better project management practices being put in place, the railway projects currently under implementation in the State, including the double lining of the entire stretch from Villupuram to Kanniyakumari, would be completed speedily,” she said.
On the whole, the Railway Budget has failed to meet the expectations of the people of Tamil Nadu, she added.