Rajesh Agrawal, member, rolling stock, Railway Board, visited East Coast Railway (ECoR) on Saturday and appreciated its effort for quickest possible restoration of train services after Cyclone Fani.
During Cyclone Fani, ECoR had suffered a total loss of Rs 600 crore, Rs 400 crore in the form of damages and Rs 200 crore in the form of loss in earning capacity. ECoR has asked for a special financial package to help in restoration work.
The railway board member said ECoRly will create a new record in 2019-20 by being the first railway zone ever to load more than 200 million tones in any year.
Rajesh said that the station building at Puri will be restored to what it was before Fani if not made even better. The station will be ready to receive special trains during Rath Yatra. Around 194 special trains are to run and lakhs of devotees are expected to use the trains to reach Puri. The target for the beautification of the station is July 1.
ECoR will increase the number of the German Linke Hoffman Bush coaches from 15 to 30 rakes. Trains like Janshatabdi Express will have LHB coaches.
The workshop at Mancheswar will be upgraded to handle the maintenance of LHB coaches.
The announcements were made in the presence of ECoR general manager Vidya Bhushan and additional general manager Sudhir Kumar.
