Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Sept 23: The government Wednesday said Jharsuguda-Barpali railway link project in Orissa to facilitate faster movement of coal is ahead of schedule and will be ready by July next year. “The three railway lines which I had been reviewing are moving very fast. One such will be ready ahead of schedule…Jharsuguda-Barpali railway line in Orissa will be ready by July 2016,” Swarup said while speaking at the India Coal Summit. The other two railway lines will be ready by December 2017, he added.
The lines include Tori-Shivpur in North Karanpura, Jharkhand. The Rs 470-crore Jharsuguda-Barpali railway link project was announced by Coal India (CIL) in January 2006 to link its Ib Valley coal fields in Orissa. The Secretary further said that as part of the government’s plan to ramp up CIL’s production to one billion tonne by 2020, more than 60 railway lines have been visualised.
“These (railway lines) would not be executed by the railways. We have set up joint ventures in three principal states and they are going to execute these projects,” Swarup said. He further said that with the coal production picking up, the focus of the government is shifting towards quality of fossil fuel. “I would like to assure all of you that with the beginning of the next year, every ounce of coal shall be crushed and despatched. We are working towards it,” Swarup said. Seven mines out of the total lot auctioned and allotted this year have started operations. The government had earlier said it would expedite the construction of three critical rail projects to facilitate faster transportation of coal to power plants, which will help bring in nearly 100 million tonne of incremental traffic to the railways.
