Post News Network
Khurda, Sept 18: Trial run of a railway engine started Friday between Begunia and Sunakhala, a 9.5-km stretch of the Khurda-Bolangir railway line.
Testing of the recently completed tracks will continue till September 30, after which trains will start running on this line. Tracks from Bolagadh will be laid out in the next stage and will be completed in 2016, white tracks up to Nayagarh will be completed by 2017, said Railway officials.
A passenger train from Begunia to Khurda Road was flagged off and a platform was inaugurated by railway minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu along with chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan July 16, 2015.
The railway engine started from Begunia at 12:30 pm and reached Sunakhala at 1:40 pm. Railway sources said that the testing operations were completed successfully and satisfactorily. Some more tests will be conducted in phased till September 30, after which trains will start running on this line, said officials.
The rail line, a dream project for western Orissa, was first conceived in 1994-95 after being in the pipeline for many years. The 288.73-km railway line between Khurda and Bolangir, when completed, will serve as a major link between Orissa’s western region with the state’s eastern parts. This line it pass through five districts.
