Indian Railways News

Indian Railways News

Foundation Stone for Ujjain-Fatehabad Chandravtiganj Jn. Rail Line Broad Gauge conversion laid

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan laid the foundation stone for the Ujjain-Fatehabad Chandravtiganj broad gauge conversion and doubling of rail line at Gambhir Bridge works in Ujjain, on Saturday. The 22.96 km Ujjain-Fatehabad-Chandravatiganj meter gauge will be converted into broad gauge at a cost of Rs 104.82 crore. Similarly, the railway bridge between Ujjain-Nagda on the Gambhir river, which has a length of 440 meters, will be doubled at a cost of Rs 28.16 crore. Both works will be completed within a period of 18 months. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thavar Chand Gehlot were also present at the function held on platform number 8.

Piyush Goyal announced that the Mahakal Express would be started soon connecting Kashi Vishwanath or Somnath Jyotirling from Ujjain. He announced that Bilaspur to Bhagat Ki Kothi and Bikaner-Bilaspur trains will be given halt at Alot.  The Railway Minister also announced the stoppage of Ranthambor Express at Mahidpur Road and Indore-Bhopal Intercity Express in Kalpipal. The minister said the demand for the Indore-Pune Express stoppage in Khachrod will also be considered. He announced installation of 12 coaches instead of 8 in the train running between Ambedkar Nagar Mhow and Ratlam. He also announced the establishment of a reservation office at Agar-Malwa district and starting of the Bhind-Gwalior-Indore Ratlam train. He ordered to re-arrange the yard within a period of 15 months to ensure the movement of trains from Ujjain’s platform number 8. Due to gauge conversion, the connectivity of railways would be faster benefitting the area, he added.

Chief Minister Chouhan said the NDA government had increased the budget allocation for railway projects of Madhya Pradesh continuously after 2014. As a result, new rail lines, up-gradation of stations, doubling of gauge conversion and railway line have been done in a major way. He said that before the year 2014, in Madhya Pradesh, where only Rs 632 crore was spent every year, the current Union government had spent Rs 4206 crore in 2015, Rs 5376 crore in 2016 and Rs 6367 crore in 2017-18. Earlier Madhya Pradesh had been discriminated, urging the Railway Minister to approve the project of laying Ujjain-Agar-Susner-Jhalwar railway line.

Union Minister Gehlot said that after many years, proper and balanced development of the Railways is being carried out by the Central government throughout India. Historical sanctions are being given in Western Railway and modernization of stations had been completed, he said. Gehlot sought to lay the line on the Ujjain-Agar-Jhalawar road.

Rajya Sabha member Satyanarayan Jatiya said that the movement of passenger trains should be provided from Ujjain’s platform number 8. Giving information about the closure of narrow gauge years ago, he urged the Railway Minister to restore the rail service between Ujjain-Agar. Jatiya demanded to run Mahakal Express from Ujjain.

Member of Parliament Chintamani Malviya said due to the change in Ujjain-Fatehabad gauge, Ujjain would be connected directly to South and North. Direct trains can be moved from here to Secunderabad and Chennai. Malviya said that the Railway Minister is working on the Golden Quadrilateral Railway Project. He requested that the Bilaspur to Bhagat Ko Kothi train and Bikaner-Bilaspur train halt in Vikramgarh Alot. He also demanded to halt the Ranthambore Express at Mahipur and Indore-Pune stoppages at Khachrod.

Prior to it, welcome speech was given by Western Railway General Manager Anil Kumar Gupta. He said that the work of Ujjain-Fatehabad-Chandravatiganj gauge conversion will be completed by December-2019. After gauge conversion, there will be a short route to link Ujjain station to Mumbai and western India. At the same time, after completion of the final phase of gauge conversion of Ratlam-Khandwa large line, Ujjain will be directly connected with Bhusawal, Nagpur and Central India, he added. Energy minister Paras Jain, Shajapur-Aagar MP Manohar Untwal, Mayor Meena Jonwal, MLA Mohan Yadav, Dilip Singh Shekhawat, Satish Malviya, Anil Feroziya, Mukesh Pandya, Bahadur Singh Chauhan and Rajesh Sonkar were present at the foundation stone laying ceremony. CPRO (Mumbai) Nitin David conducted the proceedings while DRM RM Sunkar proposed a vote of thanks.

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