In a move aimed at boosting rail infrastructure, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday cleared Railway projects worth nearly Rs11,000 crore for improving passenger as well as freight transportation capacities in various States, including poll-bound UP and Gujarat.
Three projects is related to doubling of existing rail lines and two for laying a third rail line on busy routes.
“I am happy to say that the CCEA has approved projects worth Rs10,736 crore for doubling and tripling (of railway lines). There are a total of five new projects, three doubling projects for 763-km and two third line projects for 514 km. The benefit of these projects obviously will go to several States but two important States will benefit immensely, one is Gujarat and the other is Uttar Pradesh,” Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said at a Press conference after the meeting.
Dishing out details of the projects, Prabhu said, for Gujarat, the CCEA has accorded approval for doubling of Surendranagar-Rajkot project at an estimated cost of Rs1,002.39 crore with expected completion cost of Rs1,137.17 crore with 5 per cent escalation per annum.
The completion period of the project will be four years. “It is a major push to Gujarat’s industrialisation ability,” the Minister said.
He said the doubling of this line will greatly ease the ever increasing freight traffic between Okha-Rajkot, Porbandar-Kanalus, Veraval-Rajkot and Maliya Maiyana - Navalakhi-Dahinsara-Wankaner sections.
In Uttar Pradesh, the doubling of Roza-Sitapur Cantt-Burhwal broad gauge single line project has been approved at an estimated cost of Rs1,295.42 crore with expected completion cost of Rs1,486.46 crore with 5 per cent escalation every year. The length of the railway line will be 180.77-km. The completion period of the project will be five years.
The doubling of this line between Burhwal and Roza junctions will fulfill the demand of the increasing traffic leading to socio-economic development of the area. Besides, there will be continuous double line track available from Gorakhpur to Delhi via Sitapur Cantonment and Moradabad. Barabanki and Sitapur districts of UP would also be benefited through this project.
Prabhu said the CCEA also gave its nod for doubling of Pune-Miraj-londa railway line in Maharashtra at an estimated cost of Rs3,627.47 crore and expected completion cost of Rs4,246.84 crore in five years, including 5 per cent cost escalation per annum. The length of the railway line will be 467-km. Besides the passenger traffic, industries in and around Miraj-londa section will have additional transport capacity to meet their requirements.
Doubling of this line will greatly ease the ever increasing freight traffic on the Pune-Miraj-londa section thereby increasing the revenue of the Railways, a railway ministry statement said.
The Pune-Miraj section is non-electrified single line on diesel traction and it is oversaturated.
“The additional traffic running over and above 100 per cent of utilisation is proposed to be diverted on the proposed doubling. The doubling of the section would come as an advantage as it would strengthen the rail network necessary to operate more passenger trains with increased speed and better efficiency,” it said.
Prabhu said the CCEA also granted approval for the Vizianagaram and Titlagarh third line project at an estimated cost of Rs2,335.68 crore. The length of the railway line will be 264.6-km and the project is aimed to be completed in five years.
The third line is an alternative route to the over-burdened existing line and this link will also open an alternative route to oversaturated Kharagpur-Jharsuguda section Howrah-Mumbai Grand Trunk Route and Howrah-Chennai section main line of East Coast Railways.
Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of Odisha and Vizianagaram and Babbili districts of Andhra Pradesh will benefit from this project.
The section is oversaturated with present capacity utilisation of 106 per cent and there is a significant detention to rolling stock.
The Bina-Katni third line project under West Central Railway (WCR) was also approved at an estimated cost of Rs2,478.23 crore and expected completion cost of Rs2,917.06 crore in five years. The line will be 278.7-km-long.
Besides facilitating passenger travel, the thermal power plants in the area will get a third line for transportation of coal.
It will also significantly ease the ever-increasing freight traffic between Bina-Katni Section increasing the railways’ earnings. Sagar, Damoh and Katni districts of Madhya Pradesh will benefit from this project, the ministry said.
The Bina-Katni is critical and busy section of WCR serving coal rakes for thermal power plants at Chhabra Gugur and Jhalawar in Rajasthan and paints, oils and lubricants (POl) traffic for Mahadevkhedi in Madhya Pradesh. At present, the capacity utilisation of the section is 136 per cent, the statement said.
On a question if the approved projects had been accounted for in the Rail Budget, the Minister said, “Most of them are a mix, but some projects mentioned are with trans-budgetary support and some with extra-budgetary support.”
Prabhu said the completion of these projects will be between three to five years but the time limits given are outer limits and the Government will be able to complete the projects earlier.