New Delhi: The Katihar-Mukuria section of Howrah-Jalpaiguri railway line and Katihar-Kumedpur section of Katihar-Sealdah line will soon have double tracks for faster movement of passenger and goods trains.
The Network Planning Group (NPG), set up under institutional framework of PM Gati Shakti national master plan, has recommending the doubling of the railway line between Katihar and Mukuria (in Bihar) and Katihar and Kumedpur in West Bengal. This is among the three major projects that NPG discussed and approved on Wednesday.
Other projects are doubling of Gorakhpur Cantt and Valmikinagar section (located in Bihar’s West Champaran) and gauge conversion of Pachora-Jamner track and its extension up to Bodwad. All three projects are extremely important with a view to ensure faster movement of goods in the hinterland which will accelerate the logistics efficiency and bring reduction in logistics costs.
The Ministry of Railway (MoR) has identified ‘high density network’ of railway lines to achieve target of 3000 million metric tonne of freight movement. The Katihar section of the railway line is also important as it links the North Eastern states with the national capital. Currently, Katihar and Mukuria and Katihar Kumdedpur section have single line operation.
Doubling of Gorakhpur Cantt–Valmikinagar rail line
To ensure freight flow, particularly food grain movement from western India to North eastern states, Gorakhpur Cantt–Valmikinagar (95 km.) is an important stretch which was having only single railway line affecting the freight movement. From Valmikinagar upto Muzaffarpur, work on doubling is already going on. This proposed doubling project with the cost of ₹1120 Crore is expected to improve the logistics efficiency significantly.
Katihar–Mukuria & Katihar–Kumedpur lines
Katihar–Mukuria (57km) and Katihar–Kumedpur (30km) are extremely busy sections. Currently, this is single line and it is a Rajdhani express route. This is important link to connect Northeast and also Howrah. Doubling of these sections will significantly help movement of cargo from Kolkata Port to Virat Nagar. The cost of this project is ₹942 Crore.
Pachora–Jamner Gauge Conversion & Extension upto Bodwad
This project is in the State of Maharashtra. Pachora to Jamner Gauge Conversion and extension of railway line of Bodwad is 84 km long project to be executed at the cost of ₹955 Crore. This project will provide bye pass double line railway connectivity for Jalgaon and Bhusawal. It will provide faster freight movement from JNPT to Nagpur and eastern region of the country.
Network Planning Group has recommended all 3 project proposals. The members of the Network Planning Group have further suggested certain components from integrated planning and synchronized implementation concept. M/o Environment, Forests & Climate Change has assured faster clearances. All these projects have been mapped on PM GatiShakti NMP. Through PM GatiShakti NMP it shall be possible to implement these projects in the next five years within estimated cost.
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The NPG has the head of planning divisions of the infrastructure Ministries including MoR, MoRTH, Power, MoPNG, MNRE, DoT, MoCA, MoPSW with special representative from NITI Aayog and MoEF&CC. Logistics Division, DPIIT functions as secretariat of PM GatiShakti.
