Mughalsarai-Allahabad third line to get rly board nod this week: Goyal

A long-standing demand to sanction a third rail line between Allahabad and Mughalsarai is likely to get the Railway Board's approval this week, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said today.

Goyal said there are particular sections on the Indian Railways network which are extremely overburdened and Mughalsarai was one of them.

"There was a plan for a third line between Allahabad and Mughalsarai, which I have asked the Railway Board to sanction this week itself, so that we can start work on that line," he told reporters at a press conference.

The third line will minimize congestion on Mughalsarai-Howrah route.

Officials say that 250-350 trains operate on the Allahabad-Mughalsarai route daily, making it the "busiest route" in the country. Nearly 200 passenger trains and more than 200 goods trains cross Mughalsarai station daily, getting on around 13,000-15,000 people to and fro.

"Similarly, we have asked all zones to take out all those bottlenecks which need infrastructure upgradation so that the Railway Board can take a mission mode decision and work can start on all such projects which will debottleneck the railway lines. These are corridors where entire railway converges and it causes delays across the whole national railway," the minister said.

The enhancement of infrastructure, Goyal said, will include elevated corridors which will bypass city areas to allow freight and long-distance trains to move faster.