Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate or lay foundation stones for over 6,000 railway projects worth over ₹85,000 crore on Tuesday.
These include 80 projects worth ₹5,241.41 crore of South Western Railway, flagging off of 10 Vande Bharat Express trains and extension of four Vande Bharat Express trains, General Manager, South Western Railway, Arvind Srivastava said at a press conference in Hubballi on Sunday.
The South Western Railway projects include the foundation stone for DEMU/MEMU Shed at Hubballi and Maintenance Workshop for Vande Bharat Sleeper trains at Thannisandra at an estimated cost of ₹297 crore, dedication of new line between Talkal-Linganabandi and doubling between Gadag-Bagalkot and Kudachi-Miraj at an estimated cost of nearly ₹4,806 crore, dedication of Goods Shed at Gangavati and Penukonda at an estimated cost of nearly ₹22.93 crore, dedication of Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT) - Balaji Movers and Sidings Pvt. Ltd. (BMCO) at Oddarahalli and Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal, Container Corporation of India Ltd. MMLP Kadakola at an estimated cost of ₹112.75 crore, dedication of Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Kendras at SMVT Bengaluru, Bangarpet, SSS Hubballi and Mysuru railway stations at an estimated cost of ₹0.58 crore and dedication of 67 One Station One Product outlets across the zone at an estimated cost of ₹2.15 crore.
In pursuance of the Prime Minister’s vision of Gati Shakti and Ministry of Railways policy regarding Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT) launched on December 15, 2021, Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals are being developed for handling rail cargos.
As on January 31, 2024, 82 Vande Bharat Express trains are operating across the Railways, connecting States having broadgauge electrified network. These Vande Bharat Express trains touch 24 States and 256 districts.
With the introduction of 10 more Vande Bharat trains (10 pairs), 104 services (51 pairs) will become operational across the Railways.
The zone is getting two more Vande Bharat trains, i.e., Kalaburagi to Bengaluru and Mysuru to Chennai. The Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod Vande Bharat train has been extended up to Mangaluru.
The Railways has conceptualized a policy framework to establish Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs) in circulating areas and concourses of stations which are operated by licensees.
The objectives to establish PMBJKs at railway stations are as follows: promote Central government’s mission to make available quality medicine and consumable Janaushadhi products to all at affordable price; enable passengers/visitors at railway stations to easily access Janaushadhi products; enhance wellness and welfare among all sections of society by providing medicine at affordable prices and create employment opportunities and generate avenues for entrepreneurs for opening PMBJKs.
In order to promote the Vocal for Local vision of the Central government, provide a market for local/indigenous products and create additional income opportunities for the marginalized sections of society. This scheme aims to provide enhanced opportunities for livelihood to local artisans, potters, weavers or handloom weavers, craftsmen etc., through provision of sale outlets at railway stations across the country. Due to One Station One Product Scheme more than six lakh people have benefited.
Aiming at augmenting terminal capacity of new goods shed facilities and developing existing goods sheds at a large number of stations. In the zone, Gangavati and Penukonda stations have new goods sheds developed at ae cost of ₹22.93 crore. All over India, 222 new goods sheds are developed and being operated.
Due to these efforts, loading of the zone has reached 46 million tonnes from 42 million tonnes when compared to last year. Loading of Indian Railways has reached 1,476 million tonnes from 1,405 million tonnes.
New lines
While 14,985 route kilometres of rail track work was laid during 2004-14, 25,871 route kilometres of track has been laid in the last nine years (2014-23). This is an increase of 75% in new railway lines. As much as 14 km track was laid per day in 2022-23 and the target is to lay 16 km track per day in 2023-24. Since 2014, 14,337 km of railway line doubling work has been taken up. Gauge conversion of 5,750 km length has been initiated since 2014. New line between Talkal-Linganabandi and doubling between Gadag-Bagalkot and Kudachi-Miraj is being dedicated and the cost of the project is ₹4,806 crore, the General Manager said.
