Tori-Shivpur railway section in J'khand to be completed by May: Manoj Sinha

Union minister Manoj Sinha today inaugurated the Tori-Balumath railway line, saying it would facilitate faster transportation of coal from mines in Jharkhand to power plants.
The Minister of State for Railways also said the 44-km Tori-Shivpuri railway section would be completed by May.
The 19.3-km Tori-Balumath line is part of the Tori-Shivpuri section.
It will facilitate coal transportation from Central Coalfields Limited's open cast mines -- Amrapali and Magadh in Jharkhand's Latehar and Chatra districts respectively.
There are three stations, five major bridges, seven road over bridges and 39 minor bridges between Tori and Balumath.
"The section passes through hilly terrain affected with Maoist and extremists activities. During execution of the project problems were faced. There was firing at work sites and kidnapping of railway staff and officers by Maoist and extremists," Sinha said.

He inaugurated the Tori-Balumath railway line through video-conferencing from Delhi.

The minister said with the help of the Jharkhand government and elaborate security arrangements were made.
"Police camps were set up at sites of the project to ensure round-the-clock work. I thank all the railway staffers for their hard work," he said.
The Railways said that as per initial estimate, Coal India Limited (CIL) proposed to transport a total of 80 rakes of coal daily from its various blocks.
Two sidings are being developed by the CIL to connect the Amrapali and Magadh coal mines to the rail network. It is expected that 15 rakes of coal will be generated from each of the coal mines, it said.

The first phase of the section between Tori and Balumath has been completed. The expenditure incurred for this part of the section is around Rs 700 crore, Sinha said.
"Work of on the remaining part is in an advance stage and likely to be completed by May 2018," he said.