Indore: From October, the railway passengers will take shorter time to reach Ujjain as the gauge conversion of Fatehabad-Ujjain rail track is in full swing. If it is completed on time, it will save one hour and expensive fuel of railway. The gauge conversion work of 22.96-kilometre long Fatehabad-Ujjain has to be completed by December this year.
But considering the speed at which the work is going on, railways claim they will complete the conversion by June and if everything goes well, trains may start from October. The railway had put the project in dock. Local MP and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan intervened and talked to railway minister after which Rs 104.82 crore were sanctioned for gauge conversion in 2017-18 budget.
The work of four major bridges and 25 small bridges on the track is under progress. Some of these have completed. Apart from this, 80% of work of commissioning of rail line up to Ujjain via Fatehabad has been completed. However, Chintaman Ganesh and Lekoda railway stations have to be built between Ujjain and Fatehabad. In addition to two rail gates coming on this railway route, the work of six under bridges is in final stages.
The benefits
At present, Ujjain-Nagda section has 135% train traffic. Fatehabad-Ujjain gauge conversion will help railway to take an alternate route to reach Ujjain from Indore and also offer alternate route for trains coming from Ratlam to reach Ujjain as the trains coming from Ratlam via Fatehabad to Indore can be diverted from Fatehabad to Ujjain using the new route. This will reduce the distance between Indore and Ujjain by more than 60 kilometres compared to existing Indore-Ujjain route via Dewas. Trains coming from Bhopal to Ujjain will be able to reach Ratlam in less time.
Fast moving work
“Fatehabad-Ujjain gauge conversion work is underway. The target to complete is December but by June the work related to engineering department will be done. If everything goes well, the train will start running on this route by October.” RN Sunkar, divisional railway manger, Ratlam
