Centre approves 7 railway projects worth Rs 32500 Cr; Guntur-Bibinagar line also on list

Visakhapatnam: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved seven multi-tracking projects of Indian Railways at an estimated cost of around Rs 32,500 crore and these will bring down the travel time for passengers.

The proposed projects, which will be fully funded by the Centre, will help increase the existing line capacity, smoothen train operations, reduce congestion, and facilitate ease of traveling and transportation.

The projects covering 35 districts in nine states -- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal -- will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by 2,339 km and provide employment of an estimated 7.06 crore man-days to the people of the states.

The projects include the doubling of the existing Gorakhpur-Cantt-Valmiki Nagar line, the Son Nagar-Andal multi-tracking project, the third line between Nergundi-Barang and Khurda Road-Vizianagaram and between Mudkhed-Medchal and Mahbubnagar-Dhone, doubling of an existing line between Guntur-Bibinagar, doubling of an existing line between Chopan-Chunar and the quadrupling between Samakhiali-Gandhidham.

Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said these are essential routes for the transportation of varied baskets of commodities such as foodgrains, fertilizers, coal, cement, fly ash, iron and finished steel, clinkers, crude oil, limestone, and edible oil.

The capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 200 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum).

The Railways being an environment-friendly and energy-efficient mode of transportation will help both in achieving climate goals and reducing logistic costs of the country, the ministry said in a statement.

The projects are the result of PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan for Multi-model connectivity which has been possible through integrated planning and will provide seamless connectivity for the movement of people, goods, and services. "These projects would substantially reduce the journey time of passengers," Vaishnaw said.

Highlighting the strategic significance of these initiatives, he emphasized that the projects are intricately interconnected and should be viewed holistically, as they collectively contribute to the modernization of Indian Railways.

Doubling Guntur-Bibinagar single line

The doubling of the existing Guntur-Bibinagar single line section of length 239 km is being executed at a cost of Rs 3238 crore. The line will benefit the cement industry in Andhra Pradesh. The distance between Chennai from Secunderabad will be reduced by 76 km and Vijayawada to Secunderabad distance will be reduced by 38 Km due to the project.

Chopan-Chunar single line

The doubling of the existing Chopan-Chunar single line section of 102 km at a cost of Rs 1,553 crore in Uttar Pradesh will benefit industry in the area and Singrauli mines workers will get faster connectivity to Varanasi, Lucknow, and Delhi.

Mudkhed-Medchal and Mahbubnagar-Dhone

The doubling between the Mudkhed-Medchal and Mahbubnagar-Dhone section of length 418 km at a cost of Rs 5,655.4 crore will reduce travel time between Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Gujarat to South India by three to four hours.

Samakhiali and Gandhidham

The quadrupling between the Samakhiali and Gandhidham section of length 53 km at a cost of Rs 1,571 crore will benefit ports and industries. Running time of passengers will reduce and Matanamadh, Koteswar, and Narayan Sarovar will become major pilgrim and tourism centres, according to the Railways.

Gorakhpur Cantt-Valmiki Nagar

The doubling of the existing Gorakhpur Cantt-Valmiki Nagar single line section of length 96 km at a cost of Rs 1,269.8 crore will be a major boost of industry in the northeast and connectivity boost will result in faster movement of food grains, fertilisers, cement, coal, Iron and stone chips to eastern and NE region. It will also reduce the running time for trains to Assam, Tripura, north Bihar, and eastern Uttar Pradesh, and for passengers to and from Nepal by two to three hours.

3rd line between Nergundi-Barang & Khurda Road-Vizianagaram

The third line between Nergundi-Barang and Khurda Road-Vizianagaram section of length 385 km at a cost of Rs 5,618 crore will help bring domestic coal to south India through rail route from Talcher, coal from Paradeep and Gopalpur ports to steel plants, the raw material (clinker, pet coke, etc) for cement plants from Paradeep port. It will also benefit the export of steel from various steel plants and lead to faster movement of iron ore from mines in the Keonjhar district to various ports in Andhra Pradesh.

The Son Nagar-Andal multi-tracking project of length 374.5 km and costing Rs 13,606 crore will help in increasing the number of trains operational in the section from the present 35 to over a hundred. It will also decongest the Delhi-Howrah route and thus boost the Delhi-Howrah industrial corridor. The section will also be instrumental in increasing the Railway's modal share from 27 percent to 40 percent.

How the industries AP will be benefited:

Odisha

1. Domestic coal to south India through all rail routes from Talcher

2. Coal from Paradeep and Gopalpur ports to steel plants

3. Raw material (clinker, pet coke, etc) for cement plants from Paradeep port

4. Will benefit export of steel from various steel plants

5. Faster movement of iron ore from mines in Keonjhar district to various ports

Andhra Pradesh

1. Seamless transportation of Coal from Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram ports to steel plants in Odisha

Benefits to passengers

1. Railways can run more train services in Odisha/ Andhra Pradesh routes

2. Special trains can be run as per the demand and convenience