The union cabinet on Wednesday has given nod to four multi-tracking railway projects covering eight districts across four states with a cost of Rs 9,450 crore. The projects will increase the existing railway network by 410 km, and help improve connectivity to several prominent tourist destinations, including Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhitarkanika National Park, Maa Bhadrakali temple, Pulicat Lake, Lalitgiri, among others.
The projects will also increase the freight carrying capacity of the national transporter by 76 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and will be used to transport essential commodities such as coal, iron ore, cement, container, automobile, and food grains.
The four projects are located on the Howrah-Chennai high density route, and include the Kharagpur-Bhadrak fourth line, Bhadrak-Haridaspur fourth line, Gummidipundi-Gudur third and fourth lines, and Cuttack-Paradeep third and fourth lines.
For instance, the proposed Rs 3,352-crore Kharagpur-Bhadrak (Ranital) project, which is spread across 173 km, will link steel hubs at Jakhapura, Tatanagar and Durgapur with Paradip and Dhamra ports. It is expected to add 13 million tonnes annually and save Rs 466 crore in logistics costs.
Another project includes construction of the third and fourth line between Cuttack-Paradeep (Badabandha) section. This section is already operating at up to 101% capacity utilisation, and this is projected to rise to 177% due to the proposed expansion of ports and industries in the region.
Additionally, the cabinet has cleared the Rs 3,591-crore Muzaffarpur-Sitamarhi-Sonbarsa four-lane highway corridor in Bihar under the hybrid annuity model (HAM). The 83-km project, which has a 30-month construction period, is expected to cut travel time between Muzaffarpur and Sonbarsa from two hours to one hour.
According to the cabinet briefing, the government has taken infrastructure decisions involving 62 railway projects worth Rs 2,74,176 crore, 38 highway projects worth Rs 3,82,119 crore and 12 metro projects worth Rs 1,46,444 crore under NDA 3.0.