Track upgraded, opened to traffic

He said the project was taken up on a priority basis by the Western Railway because the Gujarat Government wanted it to be completed as early as possible. quot;The Government wanted the project to be completed at the earliest so that transportation of the imported coal from Navalakhhi port to other areas of the State could be expedited,quot; Sharma said. He said the Navlakhhi-Maliya Miyana broad gauge track would be linked to Vakaner broad gauge station by the year 2000.

quot;Besides that,quot; Sharma said, quot;other tracks under the process of conversion from metre gauge to broad gauge include the 185-km Rajkot Viraval track and the track connecting Surendranagar-Bhavnagar to the Rajula city.quot; Elaborating, Sharma said that while the work on the Rajkot-Viraval track began two years ago, the 385 km railway Surendranagar track would be converted to broad gauge and linked to Pipwada port.

quot;All the projects being taken up by the Ahmedabad region are a part of the national policy to have network of unigauge all over the country,quot; Sharma said. quot;Such projects are being taken up in all the divisions of the Western railway on a long-term basis,quot; he added.

He said conversion of metre gauge tracks to broad gauge tracks would give a tremendous boost to the business in the State because once the goods trains started plying on the broad gauge tracks, the imported goods piled up in Gujarat ports could be easily transported to different areas of the State.

quot;The arrangement,quot; Sharma said, quot;would not only give a boost to business but would provide facilities to passengers because after conversion of tracks from metre gauge to broad gauge they would not be required to shift from one train to another during journey.quot;