Rail Connectivity For Odisha’s Kandhamal; ORIDL Asked To Review Alignment Of New Line: Railway Minister

Bhubaneswar: Rail connectivity for Kandhamal district is proposed to be provided by Rairakhol–Gopalpur new line project being taken up by Odisha Rail Infrastructure Development Limited (ORIDL).

Sharing this information while replying to a question by Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi in Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the connectivity it proposed to be provided the new line being taken up by ORIDL, a Joint Venture company of government of Odisha and Ministry of Railways.

Detailed Project Report (DPR) for this new rail line was prepared by ORIDL.

However, the alignment of proposed new line was not passing through Phulbani which was in contravention to the In-Principle Approval (IPA) granted to ORIDL, the Minister said.

Therefore, ORIDL has been advised to review the alignment of Gopalpur–Rairakhol new rail line. The Project is not yet sanctioned, he added.

It may be noted that residents of Kandhamal are up in arms as the revised location survey map for Gopalpur-Sambalpur railway line, prepared by ORIDL, reportedly omitted Phulbani town from the map. The initial survey proposed connecting Berhampur, Aska, Kandhamal and Sambalpur.

However, the revised map featured a change in the route, with the line now bypassing Phulbani and connecting the Balangir-Khurda Road railway line near Madhapur via Bhanjanagar which has angered the people of the district.