Union Cabinet: government approved railway projects worth ₹18 thousand crore+, benefit Maharashtra-Odisha-Chhattisgarh

New Delhi| Union Railways and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav informed about the decisions taken in the Union Cabinet. He informed that 4 projects of Railway Ministry have been approved. Their total cost is Rs 18,658 crore. Projects covering 15 districts of Maharashtra, Odisha and Chhattisgarh will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 1247 kilometres.

These are included in four projects of the Railway Ministry
Union Minister Vaishnav held a press conference on Friday. During this, he informed that the projects include Sambalpur-Jarapada third and fourth line, Jharsuguda-Sasan third and fourth line, Kharsia-Naya Raipur-Parmalkasa fifth and sixth line and Gondia-Balharshah doubling.

There will be additional freight of 88.77 MTPA
According to the Railway Minister, due to the projects, new areas like Kharsia-Naya Raipur-Parmalkasa Baloda Bazaar will be able to be directly connected by rail connectivity. Its advantage will be that possibilities will be created for setting up new industrial units including cement plants in this area. These routes are essential for the transportation of agricultural products, fertilizers, commodities such as coal, iron ore, steel, cement, limestone. The capacity increase will lead to additional freight traffic of 88.77 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

Railways is an efficient means of transportation
Minister Vaishnav said that Railways is an environment-friendly and energy-saving efficient means of transport. It will help achieve climate targets, reduce the country’s logistics costs, reduce oil imports (95 crore litres) and reduce CO2 emissions (477 crore kilograms), which is equivalent to planting 19 crore trees.