The North Central Railways (NCR) has been sanctioned funds under several projects in the budget 2020-21, many of which would set the ball rolling. Detailing on the pink book and its relevance for the NCR, the chief public relation officer (CPRO), NCR Ajit Kumar Singh said that the government has set the ball rolling for several of the ambitious projects that were dormant up till now.
Foremost among these ambitious projects are the elevated corridor, or ‘train flyovers’ as we call it, at Allahabad which will is ease the railway traffic between Varanasi to Mumbai and Deendayal Upadhyay Junction. One of these flyover is the ambitious Iraratganj-Kunwadih (near Jhunsi) flyover which will be off more than 20 kilometres and would join Jhunsi to Irartganj, crossing river Ganga on the elevated corridor. This project is of Rs 1838 crores and the government has sanctioned Three crores for the project in budget 2020-21.
Similarly, a flyover of 12 kilometres, joining Nani and Iraratganj will also be constructed in the coming years. The government has also sanctioned an amount of 30 crores for the construction of the third line between Allahabad and Deendayal Upadhyay junction, which will ease the pressure on the existing up and down lines of the main Delhi Howrah trunk route. Presently, because of operation of several goods trains on this route, the passenger trains are usually getting delayed. Now this third line, which will be part of dedicated freight corridor (DFC) will free space for the passenger trains.
Besides, the budget has sanctioned funds for several ongoing and new works under NCR. This includes an amount of Rs 150 crores for gauge conversion, Rs 102 crores for traffic facilities, Rs 421 crores for constructions of different railway over bridge (ROB) and railway under bridge (RUB) Rs 670 crores for track renewals, Rs 214 crore for signalling system etc. Several new works have also been sanctioned in this budget including a new washing line at Subedarganj railway station for which funds Rs 9.5 crores have been sanctioned.
“With the construction of this new washing line, several of the trains could can be operated from this station and thereby ease out the pressure on the main Allahabad junction as lack of maintaining the coaches was one of the lacuna which was holding back the decision of operating trains from this satellite station of Allahabad,” said CPRO.