Reliance Infra debuts in railway space, bags EPC contract

Reliance Infrastructure Limited EPC has received the Letter of Award (LOA) from Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) for its maiden railway project worth Rs 774 crore for the construction of third rail line between Jimidipeta and Gotlam on East Coast Railway on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis, the company said on Thursday.

The 105 km-long line will run in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The scope of work includes civil, track, electrification, signalling and telecom works of the rail line. The work also includes construction of 13 railway stations and staff quarters.

"RInfra has strong credential in successful execution of complex EPC projects in various sectors including railway and metro space. This order marks our foray into Railway EPC segment and further strengthens Reliance Infrastructure Limited's bona fide to lead in construction of rail transportation systems. The company is well positioned in the emerging railway market and poised to capture a sizable share," said Arun Gupta, CEO, Reliance Infrastructure EPC.

The railway line between Jimidipeta to Gotlam is part of Titlagarh-Vizianagaram section. At present, Titlagarh-Vizianagaram is a double line (electrified) track section of Jharsuguda- Visakhapatnam line.

It is an important rail link between Jharsuguda and Visakhapatnam, and serves as a bypass rail link to Howrah-Mumbai trunk route and Howrah-Chennai main line of East Coast region.

It also caters to the goods and passenger traffic from Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur and Raygada with Koraput on the Kottavalsa-Kirandaul line. The line traverses through western Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. This line will lead to development around the entire area, the statement said.

Indian Railways has a plan outlay of more than Rs 7 lakh crores in the coming five years towards decongestion of railway line (doubling), new railway line, high speed railway, station development and others.

Reliance Infrastructure Limited is keenly pursuing project opportunities worth around Rs 2 lakh crore to increase its EPC order book to Rs 50,000 crore by FY19.

--IANS

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