Land acquisition, forest clearance awaited: GM

MUSSOORIE: AK Puthia, General Manager, Northern Railways, said here today that they were awaiting land acquisition and forest clearance for the Rishikesh-Karanprayag Railway project and once they receive the green light the work would begin without delay.

Northern Railway GM AK Puthia in Mussoorie. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, August 12

AK Puthia, General Manager, Northern Railways, said here today that they were awaiting land acquisition and forest clearance for the Rishikesh-Karanprayag Railway project and once they receive the green light the work would begin without delay. Puthia was was at Oak Grove School in Mussoorie to attend a meeting related to the school matters.

He said the Uttarakhand government had transferred around 57 hectares to the Railways and once the forest clearance and land were received the work to develop the new Rishikesh terminus would begin. He hoped the new Rishikesh terminus would be complete by 2017.

Puthia said a detailed survey to provide connectivity to Char Dham of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath had been completed and the report submitted to the railway board. “Once the railway board approves the survey report, the work on the project will be started,” he added.

He said loops were being elongated on the Dehradun and Haridwar track to improve connectivity to the capital city to run trains with more coaches. “We have completed the Raiwala loop and the Harrawala loop will be completed by October,” he added. The work on the loop at Doiwala and Motichur was pending due to forest clearance and once it was received the work on the Motichur loop would begin.

“The electrification work is also in progress and a traction sub-line station at Jawalapur has been built. Once the state government provides the supply line, electric trains will run till Dehradun. The Railways is also planning to increase the length of the shunting line to 18 coaches. Another focus is to provide lift and escalators at stations. The Railways has planned to provide four lifts at Haridwar and one at the Dehradun station. Around three pairs of escalators will be given to Haridwar and one pair to Dehradun. The work will be completed by December 16. Efforts are on to eliminate railway level-crossing and construct limited height subways. Limited height subways are being constucted at eight locations between Haridwar and Rishikesh and these will be completed by October. The Railways is also planning to construct more hostels for Oak Grove School and a holiday home for its employees. Permission from the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority in this regard is awaited,” said Puthia.