The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday cleared two 4th line projects totalling about Rs 4,474 crore. The projects are Santragachi – Kharagpur 4th line and Sainthia – Pakur 4th line
These two projects are capacity augmentation projects planned under PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan. The routes to be built are freight heavy and convey essential commodities such as coal, stone, dolomite, cement, slag, gypsum, iron and steel, food grains, POL and containers. These works will result in additional freight traffic of 31 MTPA (million tonnes per annum).
The two projects situated in the states of West Bengal and Jharkhand will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 192 Kms. Besides, these routes serve tourist destinations served such as Bolpur-Shantiniketan, Nandikeshwari Temple (Shaktipeeth), Tarapith (Shaktipeeth), Patachitra Gram, Dhadika Forest, Bhimbandh Wildlife Sanctuary and Rameshwar Kund.
The project details are as follows:
Santragachi -Kharagpur 4th line
The section is part of quadrupling of Mumbai-Howrah and Howrah-Chennai high density network also catering to suburban services between Medinipur/Kharagpur and Howrah.
- Route Length: 111 km
- Estimated Cost: Rs 2,905 crore
- Project duration: 5 years
- Districts served: Howrah, East Midnapur and West Midnapur in West Bengal
- Industry served – cement clusters, Good sheds
- at Shalimar and Sankrail, Thermal power plant at Kolaghat and Industrial park at Vidyasagar
- Bridges-one mega bridge,15 major bridges
- 100 minor bridges, and
- Road-under-bridges (RUB)-12
The line will carry an additional freight traffic – 20.4 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and save Rs logistics cost of 452 crore while generating employment of 38 lakh human days.
Sainthia -Pakur 4th line
The section is a key link to Howrah-Guwahati and Howrah -Patna rail corridors.
- Route length -81 km
- Estimated cost – Rs 1569 crore
- Project duration – 4 years
- Districts served: Birbhum in West Bengal and Pakur in Jharkhand
- Bridges- one mega bridge,
- 41 major bridges and 83 minor bridges
- Level Crossing gates- 17 locations
- Industry served- Coal movement to thermal power plants at Sagardighi, Bakreswar and Santhaldih
The project will add freight traffic of 10.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), save Rs 171 crore every year in logistics cost and generate employment 28 lakh human days.
