192-km rails to be laid across 5 districts in West Bengal-Jharkhand
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved Rs.4,474 crore for two projects of Ministry of Railways — Sainthia – Pakur 4th line and Santragachi – Kharagpur 4th line.
The increased line capacity will significantly enhance mobility, resulting in improved operational efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways, the Cabinet said on Mar 10 .
“These multi-tracking proposals are poised to streamline operations and alleviate congestion,” it added.
The projects are planned on PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan with focus on enhancing multi-modal connectivity & logistic efficiency through integrated planning and stakeholder consultations. These projects will provide seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods, and services.
The two projects covering five districts across the states of West Bengal and Jharkhand will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 192-km.
The approved multi-tracking project will enhance connectivity to approx. 5,652 villages, which are having a population of about 147 lakhs.
The proposed capacity enhancement will improve rail connectivity to several prominent tourist destinations across the country, including Bolpur-Shantiniketan, Nandikeshwari Temple (Shaktipeeth), Tarapith (Shaktipeeth), Patachitra Gram, Dhadika Forest, Bhimbandh Wildlife Sanctuary, Rameshwar Kund, etc.
The approved projects are essential routes for transportation of commodities such as coal, stone, dolomite, cement, slag, gypsum, iron and steel, foodgrains, container, etc.
The capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 31 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum). The Railways being environment friendly and energy efficient mode of transportation, will help both in achieving climate goals and minimizing logistics cost of the country, reduce oil import (6 crore litres) and lower CO2 emissions (28 crore kg) which is equivalent to plantation of one crore trees, the Cabinet said. fiinews.com
