The South East Central Railway (SECR) will soon take up work for installing Electronic Interlocking based Signalling System at three stations between Kharsia-Gharghoda for Package-I of ambitious East Rail Corridor project in Chhattisgarh, officials informed here on Saturday.
Notably in 2015, a ‘Concession Agreement’ was signed between South East Central Railway (SECR) and Chhattisgarh East Railway ltd (CERl) for development of East Rail Corridor.
Following the signing of the agreement, the work for the first phase of the Rail Corridor project from Kharsia to Dharamjaygarh spanning a distance of 74 kms was commenced.
The project cost of development of the Railway line between Korba to Kharsia is `2,322 crore. The development work had been targetted to be completed by September 2017.
The agreement had been signed for development, management and operation of the Railway track for the East Corridor between SECR and CERl.
As per the agreement, there would be 50:50 revenue sharing between SECR and CERl on freight movement in the developed Rail line.
The CERl would develop and maintain the Rail line and SECR would manage freight and passenger transportation.
In 2016, the Chhattisgarh State Power Transmission Company ltd (CSPTCl) decided to modify the 220 KV Korba-Raigarh-Budhipadar power supply line having route length of 1.154 kms for construction of new broad gauge electrified East Rail Corridor from Kharsiya to Dharamjaigarh.
The modification is being made on request of IRCON International ltd, officials informed.
For the East Corridor, the Chhattisgarh government had decided to allocate 14 acres of land in Raigarh district. The Corridor will be about 180 km long from Bhupdevpur-Gharghoda-Dharamjaigarh up to Korba.
Notably, the Centre has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) each with the States of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for critical coal connectivity projects to improve transportation .
Agreement for World Bank loan of US $ 1100 million for Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) (Phase-2) have also been signed, they stated.
Freight train with speed of maximum 100 kms per hour will pass through Chhattisgarh in the East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai).
The train will traverse through the States of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra as the Ministry of Railways has sanctioned implementation of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) with freight train speeds of maximum 100 Kmph.
The Central Government’s approval for construction of 165 km long third railway line between Anuppur and Katni in Madhya Pradesh is expected to facilitate additional coal transportation traffic from parts of Chhattisgarh.
The coal transporation traffic from IB valley, Korba area, East Corridor and Gevra – Pendra Road Project in Chhattisgarh would be channelized through the aforesaid route to the respective destinations, officials stated.
The Centre has approved the project at a cost of `1595.76 crore. The project is likely to be completed in 5 ¼ years spanning over 12th and 13th plan period.
The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved construction of six Railway lines and a Railway bridge to cater to both increased passenger and freight needs in various areas of the country.
Public sector IRCON International ltd has also commenced work in connection with the construction of new ‘Broad Guage Electrified Double Railway line’ in Chhattisgarh on the East West Corridor.
The work is being undertaken in Gevra Road-Pendra Road and Dipka, Kathghora, Sendurgahr and Pasan sections, officials stated.
The Public Works Department (PWD) built 18 Railway over and under bridges in high density traffic areas in the State involving a cost of `300 crore during the past 13 years, officials informed.
PWD Minister Rajesh Munat informed that currently, five key Railway over and under bridges are under construction at a cost of `222 crores in Raipur, Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa districts.The bridges are coming up at Shankar Nagar, Kashiram Nagar, lal Kadan, Khoksa and Champa.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Government in May last year also announced that it will take up construction of 63 long-span bridges under ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ (PMGSY) in different districts of the State, officials informed.
On the other hand, as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary ‘Setu Bharatam Yojana’, the State Public Work Department (PWD) has initiated efforts for construction of over-bridges and under-bridge at railway crossing across the State for ensuring smooth and accident-free vehicular movement, officials stated.
In the State Budget 2016-17, Chief Minister Raman Singh has included the proposal of as many as five railway over-bridges in ‘Setu Bharatam Yojana’ for reconstruction of railway level-crossings, old and narrow-bridges falling on national highways, informed officials, adding that of five bridges, two over-bridges will be constructed between Manendragarh and Ambikapur, two between Mahasamund and Khariar Road (Odisha) and one railway over-bridge at village Keshloor in Bastar district.
For construction of four railway under-bridges and four railway over-bridges, the Chief Minister has made a financial provision of `13.16 crore from the Department’s general expenditure head in this budget, said PWD Minister Rajesh Munat.
According to Munat, construction of these eight railway bridges will be costing `54.71 crore, of which `36.55 crore would be the estimated expenditure for construction of four over-bridges while `18.16 crore will be required in construction of four under-bridges.
Similarly, the Chief Minister has announced to carry out a survey for construction of over and under-bridges at 41 railway level-crossings on Raigarh-Dongargarh route. The survey work is going to cost `1.05 crore.
Notably, the project aims to make all national highways free from railway level crossing by 2019 to ensure road safety. Under the project, 208 bridges will be built at a cost of `20,800 crore. Also, 1500 old bridges will be reconstructed, which will cost `30,000 crore.
As many as 29 Road Over Bridges (RoBs) have been sanctioned by the Central government during the current financial year under South East Central Railway (SECR) division.
At present, there are 1,156 sanctioned works for construction of 1,399 ROBs across the country, officials stated.
Fund for construction of Road Over Bridges (ROBs)/Road Under Bridges (RUBs)/Subways; elimination of level crossings and other safety works related to level crossings come from Central Road Fund (CRF) as a percentage of cess collected on petrol and diesel by Ministry of Finance. Present throwforward of these works is `31,700 crores approximately.
A provision of `4180.87 crore has been made for South East Central Railway (SECR) in the Union Railway budget to provide a further boost to its development activities during current financial year.