Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the twin elections in Odisha, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday announced a new Rs 492-crore rail line project connecting Puri and Konark with trains having vistadome coaches.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fulfilled a long-standing demand by sanctioning a new railway line between Puri and Konark with a view to create a spiritual, heritage & coastal corridor,” Vaishnaw told a press conference shortly after he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha.
Vaishnaw informed that the 32-km long railway line will require acquisition of 215 hectare of land. “We will seek the state government’s cooperation to acquire land for the project, which shall include 4 to 5 special tourist hubs to facilitate spiritual tourism,” he said.
The Railway Minister, who is here on a day-long visit, described the proposed project as “very important” and said passengers travelling in the vistadome trains can see the outside as the doors, side panels and roof will be made of glass. “The trains will experience Jagannath culture on the inside as we will run AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) shows,” he added.
This would be the second railway line in Odisha to witness Vistadome coaches after the Visakhapatnam-Kirandul Express which passes through Koraput.
He further informed work is underway for 220 out of the total 409 railway over bridge and railway underpass projects sanctioned for the state. The total investment on these projects will be around Rs 10,000 crore, he said.
Vaishnaw, who also holds the communications and IT portfolios, revealed that work has been completed for 684 of the 5333 telephone towers sanctioned for Odisha. Work has started for another 3112 towers, he said, adding, the total cost for these towers will be Rs 5600 crore.
