The 10.65 kilometers Bichhupali-Jhartarbha broad gauge rail line, which is a part of the Khurda Road-Balangir Rail Line in India has been completed and commissioned. This was recently announced by the East Coast Railway (ECoR), one of the blue chip zones of Indian Railways that came into existence back in April 2003.
On the 10th of November this year, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) inspected as well as investigated particular aspects of the newly laid rail line. The CRS paid particular attention to areas such as the bridge works as well as the railway track. Additionally, CRS also inspected thoroughly the newly laid rail line’s signaling system.
The inspection process was carried out by steam of senior Railway officials of ECoR (East Coast Railway) alongside the CRS. Thereafter the authority gave the go-ahead or rather a consent, for the Bichhupali-Jhartarbha rail line commissioning.
An overview of the Khurda Road-Balangir Rail Line project
The Khurda Road-Balangir Rail Line Project is over 300 kilometers long. The implementation of the project was approved back in 1993, while the foundation stone was first laid down in 2001 by the then Minister of Railways.
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To date, of the total length, 91 km from Khurda Road to Nuagaon has been commissioned. This is in addition to the aforementioned 10.65 kilometers Bichhupali-Jhartarbha. According to the project officials, work is in good progress from Nuagaon to Daspalla (91 km to 106 km). The target is set to commission this section by March 2023.
However, work from Daspalla to Buguda (106 km to 121 km) is very slow. This is reportedly due to the non-issue of Stage-I forest clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest. Similarly, work from Buguda to Banigocghha is also yet to start because of the same issue.
Generally, the Government of India is yet to issue the required forest clearance from 112 to 180 km. However, work from 180 to 275 km is in progress, and work at 275-301 km has already been commissioned.
