Bhubaneswar: East Coast Railway (ECoR) General Manager (GM) Manoj Sharma on Thursday inspected Purunapani-Sonepur Railway Section of ongoing Khurda Road-Balangir Rail Line project and took stock of various ongoing works.
He also oversaw the work of an important railway bridge under construction on Tel river, a tributary of the Mahanadi.
Sharma emphasised on speedy completion of project works and stressed development of circulating areas, concourse, platform lightings, waiting rooms, toilets, much needed for the comfort of passengers, while inspecting the new station buildings at Purunapani and Sonepur. He also advised officials to coordinate with state government for improving the road connectivity for the benefit of rail users.
ECoR Chief Administrative Officer (Construction) P Sreenivas, Divisional Railway Manager of Sambalpur Railway Division Vineet Singh and other senior officials were present.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has been giving priority to rail infrastructure development in the region along with various project works going on in Odisha and also monitoring those regularly. The Khurda Road-Balangir Rail Line project is a prioritised public-centric project, which is being monitored by apex authorities on regular basis. It will boost the economy of the region and foster socio-cultural connections between western and coastal Odisha, an official release said.
Of the 301 km length of the rail line project, 142.5 km has been completed, including approximately 105.8 km from Khurda Road to Dasapalla and 36.6 km from Balangir to Khambeswarpali. The ECoR also aims to complete 84 more km rail line from from Khambeswarapali to Purunakatak in 2023-24, it added.
