Front Page

Railways willing to take up Khurda-Bolangir line

Kalyan Coomar Jena

BHUBANESWAR: The Indian Railways on Monday finally spelt out its plan of action to bring the Khurda-Bolangir new broad gauge line, which was sanctioned 13 years ago, back on track here.

Addressing a press conference, Chairman of Railway Board Kalyan Coomar Jena said the Orissa government had been approached to provide land required for the 290-kilometre-long stretch Khurda-Bolangir line free of cost.

Moreover, funds available in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) with the State should be diverted to take up earthwork needed for laying the new line, Mr. Jena said.

“If the state government responds positively to our idea, the Khurda-Bolangir project would move much faster,” Mr. Jena said.

The proposed Khurda-Bolangir line is a vital railway link, which would connect coastal Orissa with the western part. Though people had started demanding the railway link more than two decades ago, it was sanctioned in the year 1994-1995.

The projected cost of the project has now reached Rs. 1,000 crore.

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) said 52 per cent of cumulative physical progress had been achieved while work was in progress up to 36 km distance. Till March 2007, only Rs. 67.83 crore had been spent on the project.

The Indian Railways also sought the State government’s cooperation on land acquisition for the Puri-Konark railway link.

Sharing the progress on the proposed world-class railway station at Bhubaneswar, Mr. Jena said the railway was scouting for suitable land for the project.

He said Chinese expertise had been sought to prepare concept of the station, which would require at least 200 acres of land.

Subsequently, an expression of interest would be floated inviting interested firms to execute the project.

A high-level Chinese railway delegation headed by W.U. Wei, Director of Sino-India Railway Co-operation Working Group along with 12 members had visited the city for conducting a survey for developing a world class station here.

On ambitious high-speed train project, Mr. Jena said the concept might not be feasible in the case of India.

However, a global tender had been floated for inviting international consultants who could study feasibility of fast trains. Scope of having such trains would be explored in five railway links such as Mumbai-Pune, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Koimbatore-Bangalore-Ernakulam, Delhi-Amritsar and Howarah-Haldia, Mr. Jena said

On anti-collision devices developed by the Konkan Railway, the Railway Board Chairman said the device was found to be the cheapest safety system in the world. The system would be experimented in Southern, South Eastern and South Central railways during 2008-2009 fiscal.

“If it proves to be successful, we will utilise the anti-collision device, which is based on GPS System, in all other railway divisions at one go,” Mr. Jena said. Countries such as Israel, Egypt and Australia were interested in the device, he said.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu