Kumar Chellappan had a report on January 1, 2014 citing Sreedharan's suggestion for a high-speed passenger train between Kochi and Delhi in less than 15 hours.http://www.dailypioneer.com/todays-newspaper/govt-on-wrong-high-speed-track-metro-man.html
It should be possible to reintroduce a high-speed train service from Colombo to Delhi in less than 15 hours. Willa SoniaG UPA announce such a path-breaking initiative and scrap the Sethuchannel which would have destroyed Ramasetu?
Such a transport network will be part of the Trans-Asian Railway and Trans-Asian Highway Networks of the Indian Ocean Community (IOC) heralding the IOC in the comity of nations, as a tribute to Sri Rama who build the Ramasetu, a landmark which should promote the formation of IOC of 59 nations along the Hindumahasagar, Indian Ocean Rim, opening up unprecedented development opportunities for nearly 2 billion people and even provide an impetus to the European Community and other nations on the globe to get out of the recurring financial crises. IOC will also enable India to regain her share of the world GDP which was over 25% at the turn of the millennium of Common Era, 0 CE.
Kalyanaraman
When you could buy a rail ticket FROM EGMORE TO COLOMBO...
Historic Boat Mail Connecting Chennai And Ceylon Would Have Turned 100 Next Month
V Ayyappan | TNN
Till the mid-1980s, travellers used to buy tickets to Colombo at Egmore railway station. They boarded the Boat Mail to Rameswaram from where they hopped onto ships to reach Sri Lanka. The train no longer chugs across the channel, but if it did, it would have turned 100 next month.
Travel was effortless till 1964, when the train went to a pier in Dhanushkodi where passengers stepped off to board boats that ferried them across Palk Strait to a pier at Talaimannar. From there, they boarded a train to Colombo. This service was discontinued after the Dhanushkodi pier was destroyed in a cyclone in 1964, and the once bustling trans-shipment point is now a ghost town.
In 1950, the train took 19 hours to reach Dhanushkodi and the steamers three-and-ahalf hours to reach Talaimannar, according to Indian Railway Fans Club. “The ticket was from Egmore to Colombo Fort. Those with first class tickets travelled on the upper deck; second class passengers were on lower decks,” said Brian R, who was a regular on the train.
Six years after Egmore railway station was built, South Indian Railway Company launched its Indo-Ceylon connection in February 1914. Three steamers — Curzon, Elgin and Hardinge, named after three viceroys — took passengers 22 miles across the sea to Ceylon.
The building of the line involved much to-and-fro between colonial governments. The February 1914 issue of the Railway Gazette says: “Both in India and Ceylon, there has been some years of agitation for these two islands (Rameswaram and Mannar) to be joined to the nearest mainland.”
It came into being after Sir Henry Kimber of South Indian Railway presented a demand to Lord Morley, India’s secretary of state. Ceylon built a railway line from Madavach to Talaimannar, while India extended the Madurai-Mandapam line with a bridge across Pamban pass to Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi. Officials wanted a ferry to carry the train from Rameswaram to Mannar. This was dropped because the Palk Strait is shallow, said an official.
“In the ’80s, people brought Japanese watches from Colombo and took lungis from Chennai. The ferry was discontinued after LTTE gained power,” said retired rail official C Sivaraj.
CHUGGING ACROSS
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1876 | India-Ceylon connection via Adam’s Bridge mooted 1894 | Ceylon government prepares estimate for 22-mile bridge across the sea at a cost of Rs 259lakh 1895 | Indian government brings down estimate to Rs 249lakh 1899 |Survey for railway line from Madurai to Rameswaram; idea to have a harbour at Kundagai Point for India-Ceylon traffic mooted 1906 | Neville Priestley, MD, South Indian Railway, revives building floating bridge across Adam’s bridge 1908 |Madras governor Arthur Lawley, Ceylon governor Henry McCullum meet at Dhanushkodi, plan to build viaduct across Palk Strait with rolling lift bridge over Pamban pass and run steamers between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar; proposal to carry train on ferry mooted but dropped 1911 | Work begins on viaduct 1913 |Viaduct completed in June; Scherzer rolling lift bridge built between July and Dec; piers at Dhanushkodi finished 1914 | Railway line till Dhanushkodi pier and steamers inaugurated by Madras governor Lord Pentland
SHIPSHAPE: The steamers ‘Elgin’ (left) and ‘Hardinge’ at the southern pier in Dhanushkodi in 1914
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 FIRST TRIP: Governor of Madras Lord Pentland and others arrive at Rameswaram  ON THE TRACKS: The entourage walking from Rameswaram to Scherzer bridge  MEETING POINT: Dry dock at Mandapam in 1914 where Indo-Ceylon Express, later known as Boat Mail, met the steamer  IN DEEP WATER: The last train to Dhanushkodi stranded in the flood caused by the 1964 cyclone http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOICH/2014/01/23&PageLabel=4&EntityId=Pc00414&ViewMode=HTML | |||||
