Union Cabinet approves 8 major new railway lines

Hyderabad / New Delhi: Stating that the Union Cabinet approved 8 major new railway lines, Railways minister Ashwin Vaishnav has said that the new railway project connecting Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha will help to develop additional rail corridors to northern and eastern India. The minister also said that the railway line would help to get coal faster for thermal plants in Southern India and also Aluminum and iron ore industries will benefit from better connectivity. Wider market to agro products in Andhra and Telangana will be another big advantage from the new railway line. Vaishav said that land allotment for Visakhapatnam railway zone was under progress and he was in touch with AP Chief Minister N Chandrabau Naidu and also Union Minister Ramohan Naidu to fasten the process. The AP government is ready to allot new land for it as the land allotted earlier was prone to submergence during heavy rains.

The Railways minister explained the centre allocated a record Rs 2,65,000 crore for railways development this year. More than 1,300 stations were being redeveloped and also proposed to adding more than 5,000 Km tracks every year (14.5 Km per day) and manufacture more than 1,200 locos and more than 6,000 coaches per year.

Under PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, he said that the new railway projects are part of the energy, mineral and cement corridor. The new 8 projects covered 7 states – Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Telangana and West Bengal. These lines pass through 510 villages, 14 districts in 7 States benefitting more than 2 crore people. Railways will carry additional cargo of more than 140 million tons per year. New rail corridor parallel to the eastern coast of India – Warangal, Bhadrachalam, Jeypore, Titlagarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Tatanagar and Asansol would also be developed.