Efforts under way to cut journey time of water express

After the inspection, he held discussions with Jolarpet municipal administration and Southern Railway officials to find ways to reduce the time taken for loading water and the running time of wagons.

Speaking to media, Nirmal Raj said that the loading work was taking three hours as pumping water from the ground level reservoir (GLR) at Mettuthakarakuppam, which is 3.5 km away, to the loading yard included 11 curves and this reduced water pressure. Because of this the loading time also increased, he added.

“Hence we are trying to reduce the pipe curvature to six to increase pressure and reduce loading time,” Nirmal Raj said.

Similarly, he also held discussions with the railway officials on the possibilities to reduce the running time of wagons to Chennai from 5-6 hours to 4 hours. However, railway officials said that the running time depend on the traffic in the section.

It may be recalled that from July 12, one water special per day with 25 lakh litres drinking water in 50 Bogie Tankers for Petrol and Naptha (BTPN) wagons was sent to Chennai daily. Two trips daily with a total of 50 lakh litres of water started when a second water special was commissioned from Tuesday.