The much awaited Barki Chanpi-Tori Railway line was inaugurated online on Thursday by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu from Rail Bhawan in New Delhi while Chief Minister Raghubar Das along with other dignitaries flagged off the train from Ranchi Railway Station.
The new rail link will reduce the distance between Ranchi and Delhi via lohardaga — Tori by around 115 km and curtail the travel time by at least 2-3 hours.
Initially, Ranchi — Barki Chanpi Passenger Train (58653/58654) has been extended up to Tori
for the convenience of local people. Prabhu in his speech, lauding the Chief Minister for bringing the State on tracks, said that he was confident that Jharkhand will become the most developed State in the country under the leadership of Raghubar Das.
“Jharkhand is the first State in the country to sign joint venture agreement with Ministry of Railways for developing railway infrastructure and speeding up railway projects in the State,” said Prabhu.
He further said that 465 per cent more funds were being spent on Railway projects in Jharkhand since the NDA Government came into power at the Centre.
“Earlier, during the UPA Government in 2009-14, Rs 497 crore were being spent in Jharkhand but after the NDA Government came into power it zoomed up to Rs 2,583 crore which are 465 per cent more than the earlier investments,” said the Minister.
“Both the Governments are making efforts to complete the pending rail projects in the State and Barki Chanpi-Tori line is a burning example of that,” he added.
Chief Minister Das said that there were a total of 58 Rail Over Bridges (ROBs) being constructed at various locations in Jharkhand with 50:50 partnerships of Central and the State Governments, but for the convenience of the people of the state, the Jharkhand Government is bearing full cost of 8 ROBs.
The CM further said that besides, strengthening the connectivity of roads in the state, rail connectivity is also being strengthened so that tourism could be developed here.
“As Jharkhand is located at the heart of nature having all natural resources, there are immense possibilities to develop it as a tourism state,” the CM said.
Union Minister of State for Agriculture Sudarshan Bhagat said that the commissioning of Barki Chanpi will also boost the economy of the people living in the area.
The extension of line from Barki Chanpi to Tori, a distance of 29.5 km, which passes through hilly areas and dense forests in the foothills of Salgi and lukaiya forest range, was completed with full support and assistance of the Government of Jharkhand. Railway officials said that there were 17 major bridges, including four over bridges and 2 road under-bridges, 8 limited height subways and 43 minor bridges on the line.