Patna: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will simultaneously lay the foundation stone and inaugurate around 6,000 railway projects worth more than Rs 85,000 crore across the country on March 12. In this series, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the operation of 10 new semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains, route extension of four Vande Bharat Express and flag off two other rail services between various stations of the country.
In this regard, General Manager of East Central Railway Tarun Prakash held a press conference in Patna on Sunday. During the press conference, the General Manager informed the reporters about the various railway projects to be laid/inaugurated by the Prime Minister and other railway services including the new Vande Bharat train.
The General Manager said that the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of 19 railway workshops, loco shed, pit line/coaching depot, Phaltan-Baramati new railway line and upgradation work of electric traction system costing Rs 6558 crore.
Prime Minister will dedicate to the nation the New Khurja to Sahnewal section of the Dedicated Freight Corridor, New Makarpura to New Gholwad section and the Operation Control Center of Western DFC. The Prime Minister will also dedicate to the nation the doubling/multi-tracking and gauge conversion of 1500 km railway section constructed at a cost of Rs 20,744 crore and 2135 km railway section electrified at a cost of Rs 2400 crore.
Western DFC Operation Control Center costing Rs 280 crore and Railway Workshop, Loco Shed, Pit Lai/Coaching Depot (16) costing Rs 2763 crore will also be dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister. Apart from this, Railway Goods Shed (Rs 222 crore), Gati Shakti Multimodal Cargo Terminal (Rs 25 crore), Digital Controlling of Station (Rs 25,500 crore), Automatic Signaling System in 1045 route kilometers in 80 railway sections (Rs 1361 crore) will be provided to the nation.
Prime Minister will dedicate to the nation more than 1500 One Station One Product stalls and 35 rail coach restaurants and solar power stations/service buildings at 975 locations.
In this sequence, Mysore-Dr. MG Ramachandran Central (Chennai), Lucknow-Dehradun, Kalaburagi-Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal Bengaluru, Ranchi-Varanasi, Delhi (Nizamuddin)-Khajuraho, Secunderabad-Vishakhapatnam, New Jalpaiguri-Patna, Patna-Lucknow, Ahmedabad-Mumbai Central and Puri, altogether 10 new Vande Bharat Express trains will commence operations.
Ahmedabad-Jamnagar Vande Bharat Express will be extended up to Dwarka, Ajmer-Delhi Sarai Rohilla Vande Bharat Express will be extended up to Chandigarh, Gorakhpur-Lucknow Vande Bharat Express will be extended up to Prayagraj and Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Vande Bharat Express will be extended up to Mangalore.
Till January 31, 2024, 82 Vande Bharat trains are running in Indian Railways. These Vande Bharat Express trains pass through 24 states/UTs and 256 districts. With the introduction of 10 pairs of more Vande Bharat trains, 104 services (51 pairs of trains) will become operational in Indian Railways.
The General Manager said that among the railway projects worth Rs 85,000 crore that will be laid and inaugurated by the Prime Minister, projects worth Rs 13,228 crore of East Central Railway are also included. Also, Patna-Lucknow and New Jalpaiguri-Patna Vande Bharat trains are also included in the 10 Vande Bharat trains to be launched. Ranchi-Varanasi Vande Bharat will also be operated through East Central Railway jurisdiction.
Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for the construction of coaching complex with washing pit line costing Rs 50 crore in Narkatiaganj. In the same sequence, New Chiraila Pathu-New Sonnagar Link (137 route km) of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor at a cost of Rs 5423 crore, 422 km long new line/doubling/gauge conversion/multi tracking projects at a cost of Rs 6309 crore, Prime Minister will dedicate it to the nation.
