Four new trains for Odisha in Railway Budget

Budget allocates Rs 100 cr for Khurda Rd-Bolangir rail link

The Railway Budget for 2014-15 has announced four new trains for Odisha against the state’s pre-Budget demand for introduction of 31 new trains.

The four new trains are Shalimar-Chennai premium AC train, Kamakhya-Bengaluru premium AC train, Paradeep-Howrah weekly express and Paradeep-Visakhapatnam weekly express train.

The Budget has extended 11 trains out of which one train, Howrah-Beldah MEMU (mainline electric multiple unit) has been extended to Jaleswar.

Among the ongoing rail links, the Budget has announced Rs 100 crore each for Khurda Road-Bolangir, Angul-Duburi-Sukinda Road and Talcher-Bimalagarh rail links while the Paradip-Haridaspur project has been allocated Rs 187 crore.

In toto, there has been allocation of Rs 513.93 crore for the ongoing railway lines, a jump of 158.73 per cent over Rs 198.63 crore sanctioned in 2013-14.

For doubling and third line rail projects, the Budget has allocated Rs 649.79 crore. This includes Sambalpur-Titlagarh (Rs 105.89 crore), Raipur-Titlagarh (Rs 161.42 crore), Banspani-Daitari-Jakhapura (Rs 161.42 crore), Sambalpur-Talcher (Rs 52 crore) and Delang-Puri (Rs 70 crore).

Six electrification projects-Vizianagram-Rayagada-Raipur, Jharsuguda-Sambalpur-Angul, Kharagpur-Bhubaneswar-Kottavalasa, Bokaro-Barsuan, Bhubaneswar-Kottavalasa and Jharsuguda-Sambalpur-Titlagarh have got a combined allocation of Rs 144.20 crore.

The Budget has earmarked Rs two crore for wagon factory at Sitalapalli in Ganjam district. Among fresh surveys for 18 new railway lines sanctioned in the Budget, there is proposal for one new line in Odisha, offering rail connectivity to iron ore mines between Nayagarh and Banspani. The overall allocation of funds for new lines, gauge conversion, doubling, passenger amenities, traffic facilities, safety and electrification for this fiscal for the state is Rs 1,420.98 crore, 63.6 per cent higher than Rs 868.25 crore in 2013-14.