Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Jan 09: Terming the year 2020 as the “Year of Grit and Victories” for Indian Railways, the Union Ministry of Railways in its annual review report said the much-awaited Udhampur-Baramulla railway line would be completed by December 2022.
In the annual review report, as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the Union Railway Ministry said that the plan (NRP) 2030 has been developed with a view to develop infrastructure by 2030 to cater to the traffic requirements up to 2050.
“Based on the NRP, a vision 2024 document has been prepared to develop infrastructure by 2024 to enhance the modal share of Railways in freight transportation to more than 40 per cent and to cater to the traffic requirements up to 2030,” the report said.
” Vision 2024 document lists all priority projects with target dates of completion and allocation of resources. Multi tracking of 14,000 km route, electrification of entire Railway network, upgrading the speed potential of important routes to 130 KMPH and 160 KMPH (present speed potential 110 KMPH), completion of important coal connectivity and port connectivity projects have been planned as part of vision 2024,” it said.
“The capital expenditure in Railways has been vastly scaled up after 2014 (almost double the previous level) to address the accumulated backlog of infrastructure deficiency in the Railways. Along with stepped up fund allocation, supercritical (58) and critical projects (68) have been identified and prioritized. Altogether, 146 projects have been identified as crucial from the point of view of freight traffic and these have been provided with prioritized fund allocation for time-bound completion, after root cause analysis,” the report reads.
“The Udhampur-Baramulla rail project will be completed by December 2022 besides that all northern state capitals except Shillong to be connected by March 2023,” It said.
“Electrification has been accorded high priority as a part of the national goal to transform India into a green nation. 66% of track length has been electrified by November 2020. Railways aim to complete electrification of its entire broad-gauge network by 2023″, the report reads, adding that ” “Indian Railways have fixed itself a stiff target of being a net-zero emitter of carbon by 2030. This includes an ambitious target for complete electrification of IR network by 2023 and an equally ambitious target for generation of renewable energy using Railway’s assets.”
“8 Kisan rail services have been started to enable our farmers to send their products across the nation with enhanced speed & reduced cost”, it further adds.
“Accidents progressively reduced from 107 in 2015-16 to 55 in 2019-20, ( up to December 2020) and 893 railway stations are now provided with improved illumination levels similar to Airport Standards,” report further adds—(KNO)
