Ashwini Vaishnaw Inaugurates One Section Of ‘Historical’ Rail Line Connecting Coastal & Western Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who is on a 3-day visit to Odisha, on Saturday inaugurated Nuagaon-Daspalla section of Khurda Road-Balangir Rail Line project, and the Daspalla railway station building in Nayagarh district.

“Odisha is one the most beautiful states. It is a state which has a huge potential. PM Modi has continuously worked to ensure rail, telecom tower and highway connectivity for 4.5 crore people of the state. Khurda-Balangir Railway line is a historical project. The execution of the project was expedited under his leadership and the railway line is now ready for operation. The long-held dream of connecting coastal area of Odisha with the western region is being completed in phases,” he said.

He also flagged off 4 trains extended up to Daspalla. The trains are Bhubaneswar-Nayagarh Town Express, Bhubaneswar-Nuagaon Road Passenger Special, Puri-Nuagaon Road Passenger Special and the Bhadrak-Nayagarh Town MEMU train.

Vaishnaw further said that he would ask East Coast Railway (ECoR) GM to run a special train from Daspalla, Nayagarh, and Nuagaon to Puri during Rath Yatra.

The Rail Minister also assured people from Phulbani that the town will be included in the proposed railway connectivity from Gopalpur to Rairakhole under ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Corridor’. “One has to rise over politics when serving the country. When I received the DPR from Odisha Rail Infrastructure Development Limited (ORIDL), I had immediately sent it back, asking the company to include Phulbani in it,” he said.

The joint venture company of the state government and the Ministry of Railways is executing five rail projects in Odisha.

In September last year, the District Railway Action Committee, Kandhamal, sent representations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw after the station at Phulbani was dropped in the revised DPR with the line being diverted from Chakapad (Kandhamal) to Madhapur (Boudh), citing some technical and economical reasons. The Rail Minister in his reply had then said the ORIDL is a company controlled by the Odisha government and his Ministry had no say in finalising the route.

Earlier in the day, Vaishnaw visited the construction site of Bhubaneswar railway station. “The work of converting it into a world-class railways station has been started. The progress work is commendable. The station will connect the two sides of the city…”

The Union Minister is scheduled to take part in a programme of the Postal Department at Kantilo in the afternoon and later local events at Khandapada and Banki. He will also attend some programmes at Athagarh, Badamba, Maniabandha and Narsinghpur in Cuttack district on Sunday.