Union Minister Kishan Reddy thanks PM Modi and Ashwini Vaishnav for approving new railway line in Telangana

New Delhi (India), August 10 (ANI): Chief Minister G. Kishan Reddy expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav for approving a new railway line in Telangana.

In a post on X, Reddy said the new railway line will streamline passenger movement, enabling easier and more efficient travel, while also significantly supporting sectors like agriculture, business and tourism, thereby contributing to the socio-economic development of the region.

The Union Cabinet on Friday approved eight new railway line projects spanning seven states and 800 km at a total cost of Rs 24,657 crore. One of the new lines approved is to meet the long-pending demand for a railway line in Bhadrachalam in Telangana. The 173-km long Bhadrachalam-Malkangiri new railway line project is estimated to cost around Rs 4,109 crore and will connect Bhadrachalam Temple Town with the main rail network. The initially proposed section between Malkangiri and Bhadrachalam (147.5 km) will be further extended from Bhadrachalam to Pandurangapuram (26.1 km). While the new railway line between Jeypore and Malkangiri is under implementation, the proposed line from Malkangiri to Bhadrachalam will open up a new corridor connecting South Central Railway (Pandurangapuram) with East Coast Railway (Junagarh).

Hence, the new railway line, apart from connecting several new places with the railway facility for the first time, will be useful for the socio-economic development of the region. It will help in passenger movement from Telangana to Orissa via Chhattisgarh and vice versa and will boost several sectors like agriculture, business, education, tourism, healthcare etc. The project will provide an alternative trade route from southern Odisha and Chhattisgarh to southern India and will also shorten the distance from the deep sea ports of Andhra Pradesh to the mines and aluminium and steel plants in Odisha and Chhattisgarh by about 140 km. This railway line will provide the shortest passenger route from Chhattisgarh to Vijayawada and Hyderabad and will save time and travel cost and will also provide direct connectivity from southern Odisha and central Odisha to Hyderabad and Vijayawada. Moreover, considering the construction of the national waterway NW5, connecting us with the Paradip port, in the future the possibility of merging this project with the NW-5 project could be considered to achieve multimodality.

The project is expected to attract significant traffic from NH-326 to the rail network, thereby increasing logistics efficiency. The project will also help in assessing cargo for ports under AP Maritime Board like Krishnapatnam, Machilipatnam port and the upcoming Ramayapatnam port, highlighting the multimodal nature of the project.

Earlier, the state of Telangana was also given top priority in the allocation of the railway budget. In the budget for 2023-24, Rs 4,418 crores was allocated for the development of railways in Telangana and in the recent budget for 2024-25, Rs 5,336 crores was allocated. (ANI)