BHOPAL : Habibganj will be made the country’s first model Railway station. FOB will be started by March and Wi-Fi at Bhopal Railway station by April.
DRM Alok Kumar, while interacting with media over Railway budget announced in Lok Sabha on Thursday, said a direct 342km long Indore-Jabalpur rail route has also been proposed with the construction of direct line, with which the distance would be cut by over 100km and journey will be via Budani going to be completed just in 6 hours by any superfast train, he added. The DRM also said, “Twelve Road Over Bridges (ROBs) at a cost of Rs 19 crore to Rs 24 crore, have been proposed at different places and two of them have been proposed for Bhopal — Subhash Nagar and Barkhedi. Sanchi-Vidisha, Khandwa-Itarsi, Ganj Basoda-Bareth, Mandi Bamora- Kathora-Kurwai,Obedullaganj-Mandideep, Khirkiya, Bhadbhada Ghat-Sukhisewania, Nishatpura-Sukhisewania would also be constructed.” Implementation will take time as land acquisition is involved and land acquisition is dealt with public participation so it takes time. Fifty per cent of the investment will be from state government and other half will be from central government, he added.
Kumar said, “To clear the bottleneck congestion at Itarsi junction, a new line of 12 kilometer with flyover will be developed between Powarkheda-Jujharpur. It will help for clear passage for nearly 20 non-stop trains like Rajdhani, GT and goods trains. Rs 81.31 crore is expected to be spent.”
DRM also said, “Inter-locking for all the 14 gates have been proposed with an expenditure of Rs 13.70 crore at Bina- Itarri route. There will be FOB with ramp for disabled persons with an investment of Rs 8.64 crore at Itarsi Railway station as there are seven platforms. Sheds will be constructed at four Railways stations in Bhopal division.”
Splitting of six blocks will be undertaken between Itarsi and Khandwa stations to increase the capacity and efficiency of train services at Rs 19.25 crore, DRM added.
Commercial halt has been made for Duranto at Itarsi and now passengers can opt for reservation and purchase tickets in trains, DRM said, adding, “Earlier, it was operational halt which means tickets were not available for passengers at Itarsi for Duranto train.”
There would be replacement of obsolete and overage telecom gear at Kota-Nagda and Bina –Itarsi sections. Additional protection work at Machak River at Khandwa-Itarsi section would be done with opening of bridge at Khandwa-Itarsi, replacement of old AC sheets by pre-coated sheets at Bhopal, the DRM added.
ROBs to be built at Subhash Nagar, Barkhedi New direct line from Indore to Jabalpur
Bhopal gets stoppage of 2 new trains
Halts have been proposed for trains at Bhopal Railway station—Indore-Nagapur-Indore Trishatabdi and Yashwantpur-Katara-Yashwantpur.
