New Delhi: The Palasa-Vizianagaram section of East Coast Railway (ECoR) has been identified as one of the four busy routes for modernising infrastructure to enhance efficiency and running trains at a higher speed.
This section will see extensive trials under a pilot project for implementation of the ‘modern train control system’ which encompasses upgrading the signalling system for safety, increasing line capacity and running trains much faster, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Railways.
Palasa-Vizianagaram falls on the busy Howrah-Chennai section, handling hundreds of passenger and freight trains each day, including trains which originate from Bhubaneswar to Koraput and other places in south Odisha.
The other three sections where pilot project will be taken up are Renigunta – Yerraguntla section of South Central Railway, Jhansi–Bina section of North Central Railway and Nagpur-Badnera section of Central Railway.
The trails on these four sections of 640 km will entail an investment of Rs 1810 crore.
RailTel Enterprises, a railway PSU, will take up the project before the modernisation initiative is rolled out across the length of the railway network in the country, the statement said.
The entire project is pegged at 77,912 crore and will be implemented after approval of NITI Aayog, Extended Board for Railways (EBR) and sanction of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
“This is one of the most-ambitious modernisation projects of Indian Railways, which envisages upgradation of signalling system for improving safety, line Capacity and to run trains at higher speed,” the statement underlined.
It also said that the project to run trains at 160 kmph on the New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah stretch will be taken up separately.
