Train carrying water from Jolarpet reaches Chennai

The first train carrying water from Jolarpet railway station in Vellore district reached water-starved Chennai on Friday.

Adorned by garlands and banana saplings with a poster "Water for Chennai", the train had left Jolarpet, more than 200 km from here, with 50 wagons of water at 7:30 am and reached Villivakkam near Chennai before noon.

The water is expected to be conveyed to the Kilpauk Water Works, three km away which is one of the facilities that feeds water to the metro.

Pipes have been specially laid for the purpose carrying water from the railway station to Kilpauk. Two trips are planned everyday for the water special.

Chennai needs about 800 miliion litres of water (MLD) daily and authorities are able to supply only 525 MLD in the current situation as the city faces an acute water shortage after failure of monsoons for the last two years.

The state government had announced plans to bring water from Jolarpettai by rail wagons as Chennai faces an acute watger shortage after failure of monsoons for the last two years.

The work on bringing water from Jolarpettai was started a fortnight ago and Water Board officials had worked day and night to bring water from Jolarpet to Chennai by train.