The Union Cabinet Tuesday approved the expansion of four key railway corridors totaling 894 km route length covering 18 districts across four states at a cost of Rs 24,634 crore. The routes will converge with the Golden Quadrilateral and Diagonals of the Indian Railways, consisting of six high-density routes. Together, they make up 16 per cent of the Indian Railways’ total network, but carry around 52 per cent of the railways’ overall passenger traffic and 58 percent of the total freight traffic. The projects approved by the Cabinet are: the 314-km Wardha-Bhusawal 3rd & 4th line in Maharashtra the 84-km Gondia-Dongargarh 4th line in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh the 259-km Vadodara-Ratlam 3rd & 4th line in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh the 237-km Itarsi-Bhopal-Bina 4th line in Madhya Pradesh. The expansion of Wardha-Bhusawal line is part of the Indian Railways’ push to quadruple the Mumbai-Howrah route, which is one of the six high density routes on the network. According to the Indian Railways, the Wardha-Bhusawal line will be completed in five years at an estimated cost of Rs 9,197 crore. It will connect with the key economic nodes such as JNPA, Kandla Port, Mundra Port, coal and iron ore mines, etc., and facilitate additional freight traffic of 16.2 million ton per annum (mtpa). The 84-km Gondia-Dongargarh will pass through an aspirational district, Rajnandgaon, in Chhattisgarh. Officials said it will facilitate the movement of coal from mines located in Raigarh Mand, Talchar, Korba and IB valley to various thermal power plants located in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana and add to the additional traffic of 30.6 mtpa. The Vadodara-Ratlam line is part of the Delhi-Mumbai high density network. It traverses through Vadodara, Panchmahal and Dahod in Gujarat and Jhabua and Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh. Officials said with the expansion of this section an additional freight of 16.5 mpta of coal, container, limestone and petroleum products is expected. The Itarsi-Bhopal-Bina line lies on an important section connecting Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It will improve the connectivity to key tourist destinations such as Sanchi and Bhimbetka (UNESCO sites), the Udaygiri Caves, Satpura tiger reserve and Pachmarhi.
