PNS | VIJAYAWADA
The Union Cabinet, on Wednesday, approved seven railway projects worth Rs 32,512 crore in different parts of the country, including the third line between Nergundi-Barang and Khurda Road- Vizianagaram. Divisional Railway Manager Saurabh Prasad convened a press meet to discuss the salient features of the project.
DRM mentioned that Section is oversaturated with Line capacity utilisation of 137 per cent in some sections and thus becoming a bottleneck for train operations. Hence this line will benefit in many ways.
The total length of the project is 385 Km in Odisha (184 Km) Bhadrak, Jajpur, Khordha, Cuttack, Ganjam. In Andhra Pradesh (201 Km) Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam.
The estimated cost of the project is Rs 5,618 crore. There are six important bridges to be constructed — on River Birup (488M), Mahanadi (2,096M), Kothjori (822M), Rusikulya (457M), Bansadhara (410M), Kuakhai (822M). Besides, 86 major bridges and 847 minor ones are to be constructed.
The DRM elaborated on how the industries would be benefited in this region. From Odisha, domestic coal can be taken to south India through an all rail route from Talcher. Coal from Paradeep and Gopalpur ports can be taken to steel plants, besides raw materials (clinker, pet coke etc.) for cement plants from Paradeep port. The route will help in export of steel from various steel plants and faster movement of iron ore from mines in Keonjhar district to various ports.
In Andhra Pradesh, seamless transportation of coal from Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram ports to steel plants in Odisha can be ensured.
Also, the Railways can run more train services in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh routes and special trains can be run as per the demand and convenience.
With this new line, apart from decongestion of the traffic, additional goods traffic of 78.79 MTPA consisting of coal, cement, Iron ore, steel, fertilisers, oil, etc. are anticipated on the proposed section.
