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| Infra push on slippery track |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Jul 04, 2009, 00:25 IST |
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Outlay on setting up new lines, gauge conversion down by 11.55 per cent.
The railways’ outlay for the current financial year on building infrastructure, including setting up new lines, gauge conversion and doubling of tracks, has come down by 11.55 per cent. The railway ministry would spend over Rs 6,881 crore during the current fiscal to augment and enhance rail infrastructure, compared to the revised estimates of Rs 7,779 crore it spent in the previous fiscal.
The ministry has set a target of adding 250 km of new lines during 2009-10 with an outlay of Rs 2,921 crore to enhance connectivity along various routes. An outlay of Rs 2,054 crore has been budgeted for gauge conversion of about 1,300 km of lines, while Rs 1,906 crore has been provided for doubling 700 km of lines.
To accelerate social development, the railway ministry will set up an expert committee to seek advices on innovative financing and implementation of the so-called “economically unviable” but socially desired projects.
“These projects may be economically unviable but are an economic necessity for the people of those regions who have remained victims of backwardness and poverty,” Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said while presenting the Railway Budget 2009-10. “It would be our endeavour to render all commercial services with a human face,” she added.
It proposes to set up a 1,000-Mw power plant at Adra (West Bengal) to avail electricity supply at economical tariff.
“This project is of great importance as it would be located in an under-developed tribal area, and will help in providing employment and bringing the tribal people in to the mainstream,” she said.
The railways are setting up a 1,000 Mw coal-based power plant at Nabinagar in Bihar with public sector NTPC Ltd.
The railways would also set up a new coach factory at the Kanchrapara-Halisahar Railway Complex in West Bengal with a capacity to manufacture about 500 EMU/MEMUs and metro coaches through a joint venture or public-private partnership.
The ministry is also undertaking a pre-feasibility study for the Mumbai Elevated Rail Corridor between Churchgate and Virar. Banerjee also announced a feasibility study for introducing an energy-efficient rail-based system to provide connectivity to existing suburban systems like circular railway and EMU services. An effort to decongest the Howrah station would be undertaken by shifting suburban services to Saltgola.
Surveys for new lines connecting Gangtok and Shillong have been completed and further steps would be taken. A proposal for setting up the Northeast Region Rail Development Fund has been initiated to ensure timely completion of various projects in the north-eastern region.
The Quazigund-Anantnag rail line in Jammu and Kashmir will be completed by August 2009. Banerjee said work on the project has suffered a setback due to difficulties in the line from Udhampur to Katra and Katra to Quazigund.
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