Rourkela: The next two block sections of the Talcher-Bimlagarh new rail line project in Odisha are scheduled for commissioning pending clearance from the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS).
A trial run was conducted on the newly laid stretch spanning 9.77 km from Sunakhani to Samal on March 22. The commissioning process involves rigorous safety inspections and trial runs.
Application has already been filed with the CRS and the East Coast Railway (ECoR) is expected to get safety clearance for the Sunakhani to Samal stretch in a week, sources said.
The next completed stretch of about 6.53 km from Samal to Parabil is all set to get clearance from the CRS by April.
Efforts are also on to advance the project’s next phase, involving a 14.2-km stretch between Parabil and Khamar. This apart, construction activities including earthwork, bridge, and building construction are progressing along the 19.3-km stretch from Kharmar to Srirampur.
The tender process has been initiated for a stretch of 9.475 km from Srirampur to Pallahara.
With a major portion of the required land acquired, the ECoR intends to launch a single Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) tender for the remaining 73.18-km stretch from Pallahara to Bimlagarh in the coming months.
Expressing concern over the prolonged timeline, Rourkela Development Steering Committee (RDSC) chairman Subrata Patnaik told TNIE that it took 12 years to lay 33.92 km despite the fact that this key rail line is going to play a significant role for freight and passenger movements for further industrial and economic growth of the region.
“Due to land acquisition hurdles the land cost overrun saw increase of about 1,500 per cent. The initial estimated cost of the project was Rs 810.78 crore in 2007-08 which got upwardly revised to Rs 1,928.07 crore in November 2016, considering the revised completion target by 2026 end the cost overrun is likely to reach Rs 3,000 crore,” he said.
