The central government has allocated Rs 5,362 crore for Bhusawal division of the Central Railway (CR) in the Union Budget specifically for construction of new lines. The bulk of the money (Rs 4,984 crore) has been assigned for the Manmad-Indore railway line project, the ground breaking ceremony for which carried out last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Manmad-Indore railway track project is around of 368-km-long and the work will be carried out in one go. “This is the biggest work that has been sanctioned for the division so far. Funds allocated for Manmad-Indore track is on the lines of Extra Budgetary Resources (Partnerships), indicating that the work can be taken up with investment from states and even others,” a senior official from Bhusawal division said.
The new track will cut down the traveling distance to New Delhi by more than 150-km and benefit the future plans of the railways of running high speed trains between Mumbai and Delhi. As of now the railways favour the western route for Delhi and many trains coming from South are also diverted from the Western route which is shorter than the current Central route between Mumbai and Delhi.
The 265-km Pune-Nashik route, however, has seen no allocation of funds in the budget. But construction of 56-km line between Dhule and Nardana has got allocation of Rs 1 crore. Apart from this, the budget has also proposed Rs 262 crore for construction of third lines at four different locations. The works include
- 24-km Jalgaon-Bhusawal track (Rs 10 crore),
- 247-km track between Daund and Manmad (Rs 42 crore),
- 160– km Manmad-Jalgaon track (Rs 200 crore) and
- 124-km Igatpur-Manmad track (Rs 10 crore).
The 67-km Kasara-Kalyan track has also been allocated Rs 55 crore. The budgetary provision of Rs 50 crore for the fourth track between Jalgaon and Bhusawal (24 km) has also been made, the railway sources said.
Rs 10 crore has been allotted for setting up a workshop for overhauling and repairing of wheels at Traction Machine Workshop. The budget has also allocated Rs 63 lakh for construction of road over bridge (ROB) between Nashik Road and Deolali.