The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved two railway projects in Uttar Pradesh and one in Assam to ease traffic on the busy Delhi-Kolkata route and through the northeastern states.
The CCEA has given its approval to lay 150 km-long third railway line between Allahabad and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction (formerly Mughalsarai) at an estimated cost of Rs 2,890 crore. The project will be completed by 2023-24 and will be executed by the Construction Organization of North Central.
The capacity constraint on the route, which is currently at 159 per cent, is expected to come down to around 80 or 90 per cent after the completion of the project, officials said.
Two important bridges to be built on the line include an 880-metre bridge on the Yamuna river at a cost of Rs 237 crore and a 370-metre bridge on Tons river estimated to cost around Rs 96 crore.
"The project will help cope up with the future traffic and remove capacity constraints. At present, the number of passenger and goods trains in this section are far more than its capacity, resulting in heavy detention to trains.
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"This project will enhance capacity, reduce detention and cater for future growth of traffic. Construction of approved third Line between Allahabad and Mughalsarai will also ease traffic congestion at Chheoki, Naini and improve the punctuality of goods and passenger trains on vital route connecting National capital," the railways said.
This project will also generate direct employment during construction for about 36 lakh man-days.
The CCEA has also approved the construction of a new railway line between Sahjanwa and Dohrighat (81.17 Km) in the state with an estimated cost of Rs 1442 crore. The project will be completed by 2023-24 and will be executed by Construction Organization of North Eastern Railway.
The proposed project will provide rail facility to the people of the area falling under the project line and will help in growth of small-scale industries in the economically backward area, railways said.
This project will also generate direct employment during construction for about 19.48 lakh man-days.
Alignment from Sahjanwa to Dohrighat lies mostly in Gorakhpur district and very small area in Mau district in Uttar Pradesh. The Indara-Dohrighat gauge conversion has already been sanctioned and this approval for new line for Dohrighat- Sahjanwa will complete the missing link and provide an alternate route avoiding Gorakhpur.
After completion of this connectivity, alternate route connecting Chhapra to Lucknow avoiding congestion at Gorakhpur will be available. Hence, this project is needed for better socio-economic development of the hinterland of this backward area with the help of rail transport.
The committee has also approved the doubling of New Bongaigaon-Agthori via Rangiya railway line in Assam of 142.97 km length at a cost of Rs 2248 crore. It will be completed by 2022-23.
The line will have 131 bridges and will reduce travel time between Guwahati and Delhi.
The project will ease the growing through traffic into the North East region and saving due to faster mobility through the proposed double line section. This project will also generate direct employment during construction for about 34.31 lakh man-days, the railways said.
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