‘Water special’ train from Jolarpet suspended

Accordingly, the last rake carrying water left for Chennai at 9.40 am from Jolarpet on Tuesday. Till date, a total of 39.75 crore litres of water have been supplied to Chennai through 159 trips spread over 79 days, officials said.

It may be recalled that the drinking water scarcity suffered by the city resulted in the State government sanctioning Rs.65 crore on June 21, based on which the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) engineers numbering about 17, worked on a war footing to start the water specials to Chennai.

The Cauvery water under the Hogenakkal drinking water scheme reached the ground level reservoir (GLR) at Mettu Thagarakuppam near Jolarpet from where special pipe lines were laid to the Southern Railway’s overhead tank at Jolarpet station yard from where special provisions were then made to fill the tankers simultaneously.

The first rake of 50 water tankers started supply on July 12, ferrying 25 lakh litres water per trip. A second rake with a similar number of wagons doubled the daily supply to Chennai from July 23.

While the exercise initially saw a lot of visitors, the numbers dwindled when the trips continued daily. In fact, as Villivakkam station where the water was decanted lacked facility to turn the engine, the rake had engines on both sides to facilitate quick up-and-down journeys. According to sources, a month ago, there was even a scare when passengers in an Arakkonam-bound EMU saw the water train halted some two hundred feet away on the same track, till Railway officials said it was the water special with a rear engine also bound in the same direction as the EMU.