New Delhi: Even as lakhs of people are estimated to travel to Ayodhya for the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram Mandir on January 22, several trains to and from the temple town, including the Vande Bharat Express have been cancelled or diverted due to heavy track doubling and infrastructure work on the Lucknow-Barabanki-Ayodhya Cantt-Shahganj-Zafarabad section.
The movement of 36 trains will remain affected till January 22 due to the doubling of tracks on the section, India Today reported.
The doubling of tracks is part of Indian Railways’ broader initiative focused on improving the convenience and speed of train journeys towards Ayodhya. The work was expected to be done by January 20, but it seems unlikely that the project will be done by the scheduled date, the report said quoting sources.
At present, the tracks currently have the capacity to undertake the movement of 40 trains. After the doubling work is completed, the movement could be increased to 80 trains on the same section.
Sources told India Today that earlier, the train diversions and cancellations were only until January 15, which has now been extended to January 22.
The section which is being repaired is a 161-kilometre rail line that was pegged to be doubled at an estimated cost of Rs 1,200 crore. The revised sanctioned cost was pegged at Rs 1,790 crore, of which Rs 1,576 crore has been spent by December 2023. Further, Rs. 466 crore has been spent during the financial year 2023-24 on the Lucknow division going towards Ayodhya.
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