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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved doubling of Nimach-Ratlam railway line. The total estimated cost of the project will be ₹1,095.88 crore and its escalated / completion cost is ₹1,184.67 crore, Anurag Thakur, Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Sports and Youth Affairs, told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
The total length of doubling of line is 132.92 km. The project will be completed in four years,
Doubling of Nimach-Ratlam section will increase the capacity of section. Thus, more goods and passenger trains can be introduced on the system. Due to proximity of cement industries, additional freight traffic of 5.67 million tonnes per annum is expected from first year which will increase to 9.45 mtpa in 11th year.
This will provide easy connectivity and result in socio-economic development of region. Project will also boost tourism in the area as many historical sites including Fortof Unchagarh are situated in the project area.
The line capacity utilisation of Nimach-Ratlam section is up to 145.6 per cent with maintenance blocks. Project route section has become over saturated well above optimum capacity even without maintenance block. The main inward freight traffic carried is coal for captive power plants of cement companies.
Traffic on the section will further increase on account of new cement industries coming up due to availability of huge deposits of cement grade lime stone in Nimach - Chittorgarh area.
Rajkot-Kanalus
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved doubling of Rajkot-Kanalus railway line. The total estimated cost of the project will be ₹1,080.58 crore and its escalated / completion cost is ₹1,168.13 crore.
The total length of doubling of line is 111.20 km. The project will be completed in four years.
The existing goods traffic handled on the section mainly consists of POL, coal, cement, fertiliser and foodgrains.
The freight is generated from industries connected to private sidings taking off from the project route alignment. Future substantial goods traffic is projected by big industries such as Reliance Petroleum, ESSAR oil and Tata Chemical.
The single line BG section between Rajkot — Kanalus has become over saturated and there is a need for additional parallel BG line to ease out operational working.
About 30 pairs of passenger/mail express trains are plying on the section and existing line capacity utilization with maintenance block is up to 157.5 per cent.
Detention to both goods and passenger traffic will be reduced considerably after doubling. Doubling of the section will increase the capacity and more traffic can be introduced on the system. The proposed doubling from Rajkot to Kanalus would lead to all round development of Saurashtra region, an official release said.
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