Indian Railways: Win-win for West Bengal-Odisha as Modi Cabinet takes another step to boost train connectivity - All you need to know

Indian Railways: In yet another move to improve the connectivity between the two states, the Union Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the construction of a 3rd railway line between Narayangarh in West Bengal and Bhadrak in Odisha. The new line will be 155 km long and will be built at a cost of Rs 1,866.31 crore. The project is slated for completion during the year 2023-24.

"The construction of the third line will help create the capacity to cope with existing as well as additional traffic. The busy section between Narayangarh and Bhadrak is mainly used for the movement of coking coal to steel plants as well as the movement of export ore from the areas of Chakradharpur to several ports. Therefore, this 3rd line will help in easier movement of coal. This will help steel plants, power plants as well as the export industry, which will boost the economies of Odisha and West Bengal, and entire East India," said the railways in a statement.

The third line will ease congestion on this route. Narayangarh – Bhadrak section forms a part of the Howrah-Chennai trunk route. The present utilization (with maintenance block) of the section between Narayangarh & Bhadrak is to the tune of 138% as per Line Capacity Statement 2014-15.

Over and above the heavy freight traffic, the route has to accommodate 47 pairs of coaching trains including high-speed trains like Bhubaneswar Rajdhani, Howrah-Yesvantpur Duronto, Howrah-Puri Duronto, Sealdah-Puri Duronto & Howrah-Puri Shatabdi Express. This makes it highly congested.

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"The project will also help generate direct employment for about 37.2 lakh mandays during construction, and has the potential to generate indirect employment as well," said the railways.