Facelift for Arakkonam railway station

CHENNAI: The Arakkonam Railway Station is all set to get a facelift with the railway authorities having planned a slew of improvement works. As part of the initiative, huge bins have been proposed around the station premises for collecting garbage.“This will be largely helpful to maintain cleanliness in the station,” said, S Anantharaman, Divisional Railway Manager, Chennai Division, Southern Railway. “We are also planning to erect similar bins on the Arakkonam-Tirumalpur section to reduce garbage adjacent to the track,” he added.The move comes after a surprise inspection by the Divisional Railway Manager, who was accompanied by a team of senior officials from departments including electrical, mechanical, signal and safety. The team visited Tirumalpur, Chengalpattu and Arakkonam stations on Thursday.Also, the extension of three platforms of the eight is underway to accommodate 24 bogie trains at Arakkonam, which is a key junction for long distance trains. According to Anantharaman, the extension of the first three platforms is being carried out under the first phase of the yard remodelling programme.Asked about identifying a contractor for the cycle-cum-two wheeler parking lot, he said tenders have been called for the purpose and bidders would be finalised  soon.