The long awaited 57 km long Hazaribagh-Barkakana section of Koderma-Ranchi new line project in Jharkhand was inaugurated today by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in the presence of Chief Minister Raghubar Das.
The 203 km long Koderma-Ranchi new line project, sanctioned in 1998-99, which was pending for so many years is now near completion.
80 km long Koderma- Hazaribagh section was commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 20, 2015 and passenger services are being introduced today in further 57 km long section of Hazaribagh- Barkakana.
Work on Barkakana-Ranchi section which is 66 km long is also in progress. With completion of this link, distance from Barkakana to Koderma by rail route will reduce by 60 km.
This will also facilitate movement of coal traffic. This will also pave way for completion of this entire project which was sanctioned 18 years back.
The project is on 50:50 cost sharing basis with Jharkhand and hence the state government has also played its role in not only in facilitating the project execution but also in funding.
Koderma-Ranchi railway line project will serve the backward districts of Jharkhand state. Further, it will also serve Hazaribagh and Chatra Districts in addition to Ranchi. These three districts are affected due to left wing extremism and providing better connectivity will open new roads for commerce and trade in these districts thereby curbing the menace of naxalism.
Jharkhand occupies a very important place in Indian Railways network as the land is full of natural resources particularly mineral resources. Coal and iron ore rich belts of Jharkhand provide important resources for power generation and iron industry.
Railways increased annual allocation for projects in Jharkhand from average Rs 457 crore in 2009-2014 to Rs 1544 crore in the last three budgets. This is a significant increase and has given tremendous impetus to project execution in the state. The fund allotment is progressively increasing and in 2016-17, an outlay of Rs 2782 crore has been provided for projects in Jharkhand.
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