New train track to be commissioned soon

BHUBANESWAR: The Khurda Road-Balangir new railway line will be partially commissioned up to Begunia soon, said general manager of East Coast Railway (ECoR) Rajiv Vishnoi. He also said work on 32 km railway line from Khurda Road to Begunia is almost over.
In the past, there have been demands from several quarters to complete the much awaited 289-km-long Khurda-Balangir railway line.Over the years, project cost had gone up to nearly Rs 2,000 crore.
The general manager said there was significant progress in the implementation of different projects. Major works like new tracks between Bhawanipatna and Junagarh (24.4km) and doubling between Rengali and Lapanga(10.40km) will be completed in the current year.
Similarly, he said apart from a plan to partially commission new Khurda Road-Balangir link, the railways during the year also constructed two major and 59 minor bridges.
Vishnoi said the ECoR was targeting to occupy the position of the highest loading in Indian Railways during this financial year.
He said during 2013-14, ECoR achieved record revenue loading of 149.50 tonne against 133.41 tonne loaded during 2012-13 and thus registered an improvement of 12% over the preceding year.
He also said the ECoR, traditionally known as a freight loading railway, too gave special attention to passenger service and achieved a growth of 16.02% in passenger earnings in 2013-14 over the previous year.
The ECoR in actual earned Rs 12,338 crore in 2013-14 as against Rs 10,512 crore in 2012-13 and thus recorded a growth of 17.37% over the previous year, he said.
The manager said cleaning agencies have been assigned the task of cleaning important long-distance trains and stations
Besides, departmental mechanised laundry system is also being developed for improving the washing standard of the linen provided in trains, he said.
He said to avoid accidents at level crossings ( LC) this year, 36 LC gates have been replaced with limited height subways, four LC gates have been interlocked, two LC gates manned and 24 LC gates shut.