The work on proposed construction of a new Railway track between Mandir Hasaud-Naya Raipur and Kendri has started gathering pace in Chhattisgarh.
The South East Central Railway (SECR) will be going for supply, delivery and stacking of Machine Crushed Stone Ballast for use in the proposed Railway track project, officials stated.
Notably, Naya Raipur would also have an ‘Integrated Freight Complex’ spread in an area of 130.67 hectares, officials stated.
Early this year, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had also put forward a proposal that a ‘Cargo Hub’ should be developed in Naya Raipur .
He had stated that his Ministry will bear the entire development cost if the Chhattisgarh Government agrees to provide land for the proposed hub.
To this, Chief Minister Raman Singh who had met the Union Railway Minister in New Delhi and had assured the latter that his Government will provide land for the project.
The Chhattisgarh Government is already in the process of upgrading infrastructural facility to further accelerate Export-Import ( EXIM) activity from its Inland Container Depot (ICD) located at Kapa in old Raipur.
The project cost of the proposed works within the ICD campus is Rs 3.10 crore, officials stated.
The project had been undertaken under ‘Developing Export Infrastructure & Allied Activities’ (ASIDE) scheme of the Central government .
Significantly, in 2014-15, Raipur Railway division coming under SECR loaded 31.85 million tonnes of freight which is highest since the formation of its Raipur division.
During the past five years, SECR's Railway division has earned Rs 11.78 crore from non conventional sources, officials said.
Moreover, a proposed Freight train with speed of maximum 100 kms per hour will also 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 Union 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.
Alignment for both WDFC & EDFC has been finalized. WDFC starts from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Mumbai and passes through the States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and terminate at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. The total length of the Western DFC is about 1500 Kms.
Notably, Naya Raipur is among five other cities in the country chosen as ‘Demonstration Cities’ for the Centre’s ambitious Sustain able Urban Transport Project (SUTP).
The final five cities participating as 'Demonstration Cities' under Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) are - Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Mysore (Karnataka), Naya Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad (Maharashtra).
Detailed project profiles were prepared by all cities with the assistance of the SUTP Consultants and then endorsed by the SUTP Steering Committee to be included to SUTP as ‘City Demonstration Projects’, officials stated.
Notably, the Naya Raipur Mass Transport ltd (NRMTl) is also in the process of developing a total of three BRTS corridors covering a total of 40 kms with exclusive ‘Right of Way’ with the possibility of mixed route extension.
NRMTl established to act as a Special Purpose Vehicle to carry out the objectives of building, constructing and developing public transport system has proposed to develop the BRTS with private sector participation, officials stated.
The Corridor-I would be of 25 kms from Raipur Railway Station till Capitol Complex in Naya Raipur. The Corridor-III would be of 17.8 kms within Naya Raipur.
To facilitate BRTS operations, the NRMTl would provide depots and workshops to park and service the vehicles when not in use.
The operator would maintain 30 air conditioned buses at routes designated by NRMTl. If the fleet requirement is more , 10 more buses would be provided by the operator of similar specifications.
An ‘Intelligent Tracking System’ (ITS) would be established under the proposed Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the new administrative capital.
A decision to this effect was taken in the 31st meeting of the Board of Directors of Naya Raipur Development Authority (NRDA) held in the month of May here.
Under ITS, the tracing system for buses, operation and management of BRTS system would be carried out and ticketing process would also be linked. The system would be ready for use within the next nine months. Notably, The World Bank has extended support to Rs 179 crore BRTS project.