Chennai-Madurai Duronto by October

MADURAI: Duronto Express, the non-stop train from Madurai to Chennai will start running in another three months, said Southern Railway General Manager Deepak Krishan after inspecting the work being carried out in Madurai junction on Wednesday. “We are waiting for the coaches and we expect them to arrive within three months. We will try to run Duronto Express by October,” he said. The train will take the Dindigul-Erode route since it will not be possible to ply this non-stop train through Tiruchy-Villupuram route due to heavy traffic. It will reach Chennai much faster, he opined.After inspecting the yard remodelling work, Krishnan said once the work is completed, the doubling and electrification from yard to station will be facilitated.The gauge conversion work between Dindigul-Palani has been completed and Commissioner of Rail Safety will inspect the work by October. “Palani-Pollachi broad gauge conversion work is expected to be completed by 2012,” he said.The work between Virudhunagar-Manamadurai will be completed by March next year. Preliminary work has been completed for gauge conversion between Madurai-Bodi and the next phase of work will commence shortly and the funds which are required will not be a problem for the project, he  further said. The long pending complaint over the bad quality of coaches in Tamil Nadu Sambarkranti Express from Madurai-Nizamuddin will be attended and necessary action to solve the problem will be taken, he added.He said that railways was taking adequate measures to control the increasing number of pests and rodents in the coaches. Divisional Railway Manager, A K Goel and Additional Divisional Railway Manager, T Venkatasubramanian were also present at the inspection.