Bhubaneswar: More than 96 per cent of the construction work for supercritical doubling of Talcher-Sambalpur line has been completed so far. East Coast Railway (ECoR) sources here said the construction work is in full swing and would be completed soon. A 9-km stretch between Maneswar and Sambalpur City stations has been completed and commissioned Tuesday for both goods and passenger traffic. AM Chowdhary, Commissioner of Railway Safety, South Eastern Circle inspected the doubling and electrification work between Sambalpur City and Maneswar in Sambalpur Division Tuesday. Chowdhary inspected safety-related aspects like overhead equipment, bridges, signal & telecommunication equipment, railway track, and manned level crossing and also conducted a speed trial between Sambalpur City and Maneswar stations.
General Manager Manoj Sharma advised the officials concerned to coordinate with stakeholders including state government officials for early completion of the projects. Talcher and Sambalpur’s doubling work will boost the economy of the region and will provide hassle-free train operations between vital rail lines connecting Western Odisha with coastal Odisha. Doubling Work in TalcherSambalpur Super Critical (168.21 km) project was included in 2011- 12 and the final sanction was given in 2018. Works between Sambalpur City and Maneswar stations, a stretch of 9 km, were completed and commissioned. This is a supercritical and important coal route between Talcher and Brajarajnagar.
With this, a total of 162.212 km of doubling work has been commissioned in a phased manner which is 96.38 per cent of the total length of the project. The remaining 6 km of this project between Sambalpur City and Sambalpur stations has been targeted to be completed in the next couple of months. About Rs 1,377 crore which is about 90 per cent of the anticipated project cost of Rs 1,539.28 crore has already been spent.
