3rd line between Khurda Road, VZM gets Centre’s nod

Visakhapatnam: Among seven railway projects approved by the Union Cabinet at a cost of Rs32,512 crore to be taken up in different parts of the country, the construction of the third line between Nergundi-Barang and Khurda Road-Vizianagaram will play an important part in the zone of East Coast Railway, Divisional Railway Manager of Waltair Saurabh Prasad said in a media conference held here on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion, the DRM said that the section has been oversaturated with line capacity utilisation of 137 percent in some sections and hence becoming a bottleneck for train operations.

He informed that this particular project that extends to a length of 385-km will benefit in many ways.

The project cost is estimated at Rs.5,618 crore that covers 201-km in Andhra Pradesh, including Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam.

Apart from decongestion of the traffic, the line aids in facilitating additional goods traffic of 78.79 MTPA consisting of coal, cement, Iron ore, steel fertilizer, oil, etc.,“Railways can run more train services in Odisha-Andhra Pradesh routes. Special trains can also be run as per the demand and convenience of the passengers,” the DRM informed.