The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday, cleared two multi-tracking projects on Indian Railways (IR).
The projects are:
- Ghaziabad-Sitapur 3rd and 4th line and
- Rajahmundry (Nidadavolu) – Visakhapatnam (Duvvada) 3rd and 4th line.
The projects are 601-route km long. Estimated to cost Rs 24815 crore, the projects are likely to be completed by 2030-31.
Ghaziabad – Sitapur 3rd and 4th line
- Route length- 403 km
- Estimated cost -Rs 14926 crore
- Duration: 4 years
- Bridges- 5-mega bridges, 52 major bridges and 306 minor bridges
- Rail-over-rail bridges (ROR)-5
- RUBs- 238
- ROBs- 9
- Anticipated additional freight traffic : 35.72 MTPA
- Employment generation: 274 lakh human-days.
- Logistic cost saving: Rs. 2,877.46 crore every year
Benefits
The project is crucial for improving connectivity between the Northern and Eastern region of the country. The existing line capacity utilization of the section is up to 168 per cent and is projected to be up to 207 per cent in case the project is not taken up.
The project alignment is planned to bypass congested stations of Hapur, Simbhaoli, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, and Sitapur.
Six new stations- New Hapur, New Moradabad, New Rampur, New Bareilly, New Shahjahanpur and New Sitapur are proposed on the bypassing sections.
The project route passes through major industrial centres – Ghaziabad (machinery, electronics, pharmaceuticals), Moradabad (brassware and handicrafts), Bareilly (furniture, textiles, engineering), Shahjahanpur (carpets and cement-related industries), and Roza (thermal power plant). Additional freight traffic will include Coal, Foodgrains, Chemical Manures and Finished Steel.
Key tourist/religious places along/near to the project section are Dudheshwarnath Temple, Garhmukteshwar Ganga Ghat, Dargah Shah Wilayat Jama Masjid (Amroha), and Naimisharanya (Sitapur) among others.
Rajahmundry (Nidadavolu) – Visakhapatnam (Duvvada) 3rd and 4th line
- Route length- 198 km
- Estimated cost -Rs 9889 crore
- Duration: 5 years
- Bridges- 3-mega bridges, 58 major bridges and 416 minor bridges
- Viaduct -1 (2.7-km long)
- RUBs- 73
- ROBs- 3
- Anticipated additional freight traffic: 29.04 MTPA
- Logistic cost saving: Rs. 1,150.56 crore every year
- Employment generation: 135 lakh human-days
This project is a part of the quadrupling initiative of Howrah –Chennai High Density Network (HDN). It includes a 4.3-km rail bridge over Godavari, 2.67 km viaduct, three bypasses and the new alignment is about 8 km shorter than the existing route.
The line capacity utilization has already reached up to 130 per cent leading to frequent congestion and operational delays. The project provides connectivity to major ports along the East Coast such as Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram, Machilipatnam and Kakinada. Additional freight traffic includes Coal, Cement, Chemical Manures, Iron and Steel, Foodgrains, Containers, Bauxite, Gypsum and Limestone.
The proposed section will boost tourism by improving access to destinations such as Annavaram, Antarvedi and Draksharamam.
