Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday inaugurated works for 295 kms Katghora-Mungeli-Kawardha-Dongargarh railway line.
The project will be developed at a cost of Rs 5,950.54 crore. and is expected to be complete in 53 months from date of commencement of work.
The new railway line would benefit passengers from five districts mainly -Korba, Bilaspur, Mungeli, Kardha and Rajnandgaon. A total be 25 new railway stations will also be constructed on the route including in Katghora, Ratanpur, Mungeli, Kawardha and Khairagarh.
The survey for rail track project had already been completed and land acquisition work is in progress.The project has Chhattisgarh Railway Corporation Ltd , holding 48 per cent share, along with South East Central Railway MAHAGENCO ( 26 per cent) and SCBIL ( 26 per cent) share, officials informed.
The MoU was signed by shareholders on September 24, 2018 and the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs had approved the project on September 26, 2018.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Railway Corporation Ltd is the joint venture company established by the Chhattisagrh government holding 51 per cent equity and Railway Ministry holding 49 per cent equity in the company.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the new Broad Gauge Electrified Line of 294.53 route kms from Katghora to Dongargarh which will provide rail connectivity to unserved areas of Chhattisgarh.
The project would open up avenues for industrial development through movement of freight to the busy Jharsuguda-Nagpur section of Howrah Mumbai route by avoiding busy yards of Bilaspur, Champa and Durg stations The Korba, Bilaspur, Mungeli, Kabirdham and Rajnandgaon districts of Chhattisgarh will be benefitted by this new rail line.
Estimated cost of this project is Rs. 5950.47 crore to be implemented by a Project SPV namely Chhattisgarh Katghora-Dongarhgarh Railway Limited with equity participation of Ministry of Railways and Government of Chhattisgarh through Chhattisgarh Railway Corporation Ltd (CRCL) and private stakeholders.
With opening up of Raigarh District (Raigarh-Mand) to coal mining, it is expected that South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. and various end use miners will increase coal mining in Chhattisgarh State from the present 150 MTPA to 250 MTPA in near future.
This project will reduce congestion on the existing Jharsuguda-Nagpur route which has more than 135% average utilization as on 2014-15. This will add nearly 30-35 MTPA capacity to system of Indian Railways which is nearly 3% of its present output.
This project will also provide a faster dedicated route to west bound traffic of SECR, served and unserved areas of the State of Chhattisgarh and facilitate setting up of industry along the route. This is the first project of its kind and magnitude to be undertaken through the State Joint Venture route.
