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The world’s highest rail bridge over the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir is in the last stages of construction. Calling it a “historic moment”, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday lauded its construction in Jammu & Kashmir’s Reasi district. The Ministry of Railways posted a video on its official Twitter handle showing the ongoing work on the ‘marvel in making’.

“In a historic moment, the arch bottom of the Chenab bridge Bridge at night has been completed today. Next, the arch upper of the engineering marvel in making will be...
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completed,” Goyal wrote on Twitter.

In a historic moment, the arch bottom of the Chenab bridge 🌉 has been completed today. Next, the arch upper of the engineering marvel in making will be completed.

It is all set to be the world’s highest Railway bridge. pic.twitter.com/dqwN5N2HTE

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) March 14, 2021

The Chenab Arch Bridge set to be completed in December 2021, will connect Kashmir valley to the rest of the country. Standing at the tallest point for any railway bridge, at 359 m above sea level, it is 35 meters higher than France’s Eiffel Tower.

The Rs 1,250-crore bridge can withstand wind speeds of 266 kmph and has an estimated design life of 120 years.



The bridge is a part of an ambitious railway project that will have a “security setup” against possible terror threats and quakes, railway officials said. It can also withstand earthquakes measuring up to 8 on the Richter scale and high-intensity blasts.

The construction of the first three phases of the project has been completed and the line is in operational use for running of trains between Baramulla-Banihal in Kashmir valley and Jammu-Udhampur-Katra in Jammu region.

Completion of work on the North-South Metro corridor in Kolkata and inauguration of several railway projects will boost connectivity in the state

Indian Railways connectivity in West Bengal: Metro and railway infrastructure in poll-bound West Bengal got a shot in the arm with the inauguration of several projects by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February end, which, together with the rail link being built to Sikkim, represent an investment of Rs 6,636-crore in the state.
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The inauguration of the 4.1-km Noapara-Dakhineswar stretch, a part of the Airport-Dakhineswar Metro project in Kolkata, happened after a delay of eight years. While the Airport-Noapara stretch started operations in 2013, the delay in building the stretch between Noapara and Dakhineswar saw project cost more than double from Rs 227.53 crore to Rs 464 crore. The new Metro stretch—with which work has been completed on the 31.3-km North-South Corridor (Dakhineswar-Kavi Subhash)—would benefit the people of Hooghly, Howrah and North 24 Parganas, besides Kolkata. However, the completion of the East-West corridor is still mired in uncertainties. A more than 100% cost escalation in Metro projects, from Rs 4,876 cr to above Rs 9,000 crore, has strained its finances, forcing the government to inaugurate small stretches over time.

The railway projects inaugurated in February are a part of the Union government’s effort to boost connectivity in West Bengal, given its significance for trade links with the North East and the neighbouring countries. The laying of a third line for the Kalaikunda-Jhargram link, under the Kharagpur-Adityapur section, at a cost of Rs 544 crore will reduce delays on the Howrah-Mumbai route. The doubling of the 14.60-km long Azimganj-Khagraghat Road line at a cost of Rs 239.38 crore will ensure better connectivity to north Bengal and the North East, besides reducing congestion in Murshidabad district. The 11.28-km fourth line between Dankuni and Baruipara on the Howrah-Bardhaman chord line, entailing an expenditure of Rs 195 crore, and the 42.42-km third line between Rasulpur and Magra on the Howrah-Bardhaman main line, built at a cost of Rs 759 crore, will reduce congestion and ensure faster movement of trains. These new lines will also ensure better connectivity to areas with coal, steel and fertiliser industries, thereby providing an impetus to business activity.

Of special significance in the upgrade of railway infrastructure in West Bengal is the 44.96-km-long Sevok-Rangpo link, which would provide Sikkim rail connectivity for the first time. The proposed line—of which 41.55 km is in Darjeeling in West Bengal and 3.41 km in Sikkim—was first announced in the Union Budget 2008-09. Although the Sikkim and the West Bengal governments provided the requisite clearances and handed over land for the project, preparing the detailed project report and finalising the route alignment took a lot of time, since the tracks were to be laid on Himalayan terrain.

With the project receiving fresh impetus from the Centre, work is in full swing on the rail link, with 12 tunnels out of the total 14 tunnels on the route being built. The 14 tunnels together would cover a distance of 39 km, making it one of India’s most tunnel-intensive projects.

Recent government estimates have pegged project cost at around Rs 4,085 crore. The railways, which spent Rs 682 crore on it in the last fiscal, has provided Rs 607 crore for the project in FY21. The project will boost trade between West Bengal and Sikkim by providing cheaper and more smooth connectivity from a logistics standpoint. Transporting goods to Sikkim through roadways is a costly and hazardous affair at present.

Supply of Indian stainless steel rail coaches to Sri Lanka begins


(MENAFN - NewsIn.Asia) Colombo, March 10: The first lot of 10 coaches out of 160 stainless steel passenger coaches supplied by the Indian company RITES was handed over on Tuesday, the Indian High Commission said.
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This is in pursuance of financial assistance offered by Government of India for the development of railway infrastructure in Sri Lanka through EXIM Bank of India. An agreement governing this was signed between RITES Ltd. and Sri Lanka Railways in September 2019.

These passenger coaches have been custom made and built as per the requirements of Sri Lanka Railways. They have been equipped with the latest technological features including stainless steel shell with polyurethane exterior painting and anti-graffiti coating and special anti-corrosive paint to guard against harsh coastal environmental conditions.

They also have aesthetically pleasing, superior interiors with glass partitions, soundproof rubber flooring, aluminum extruded luggage racks with glass bottom etc. LED lighting has been provided in all coaches. GPS based passenger information system, audio-visual infotainment system are also available in these coaches.

The state-of-the-art passenger coaches are being manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, a premier production unit of the Indian Railways. They resemble the 78 state-of-the-art Diesel Multiple Unit Train set coaches which are currently operational in Sri Lanka Railways. These coaches were supplied in 2018-19.

The first lot of 10 passenger coaches has been manufactured and supplied successfully, overcoming serious disruptions in the supply lines caused by frequent shutdowns and movement restrictions due to COVID-19. The remaining quantity will be delivered in the coming months.

Stainless steel coaches reduce impact of accidents

Rail coaches made of stainless steel instead of carbon steel can minimize the impact of train accidents, an industry body has said.

"If all the railway coaches in the country could be made of stainless steel instead of carbon steel, it can bring down the number of lives lost in train accidents significantly," the Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) said referring to recent train accident in Muzaffarnagar district of Utta ..

Overall Development Assistance

India's overall development assistance to Sri Lanka stands at close to USD 3.5 billion. Development of railway infrastructure in Sri Lanka is a focus area in development partnership between the two countries and several types of development work such as reconstruction of railway lines (268 Kms), installation of signal and telecommunication system (330 Kms), up gradation of coastal railway line (118 Kms) have already been completed. Various other projects are at various stages of implementation.

As part of its station redevelopment plan, Indian Railway plans to attract an investment of Rs 50,000 crore by opening up about 20 million sq ft of real estate. By March 2021, Railways aims to issue tenders for 50 of the 123 stations available for redevelopment at present.

According to the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd (IRSDC), Habibganj in Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Gandhi Nagar in Gujarat will be India’s first railway stations to be operationalised under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
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While the developer of Habibganj station will monetise 170,000 sq ft of land, in Gandhi Nagar a five-star hotel has been built, reports The Economic Times.

The redevelopment of Gandhinagar Capital Railway Station project, with a 300-room five star hotel, has been completed by special purpose vehicle (SPV), Gandhinagar Railway and Urban Development Corporation Ltd. The SPV was formed with equity contribution of the government of Gujarat and IRSDC in the ratio of 74:26 respectively.

“These stations will become a model for future development where we plan to redevelop more stations under the PPP mode. We have not only used the vacant nearby land, some commercial development has also been done using the air space above the station” said S K Lohia, managing director and chief executive officer of IRSDC.

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New platforms at Vasai Road Station in Mumbai have been proposed in response to demands of passengers residing in this region.
New platforms at Vasai Road Station in Mumbai have been proposed in response to demands of passengers residing in this region.
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proposal has been floated to establish two new outstation platforms at the Vasai Road railway yard in Mumbai, in order to boost connectivity to Southern India. The Western Railway is contemplating the bid which has been tabled in view of the demands of the people residing in this region. Decongesting the load of the partially saturated platforms at Bandra and Mumbai Central Terminus, the new platforms will also be a convenient option for passengers heading towards Hyderabad and other such destinations from the Northern suburbs in Mumbai.
New platforms at Vasai Road station: Convenient or cumbersome?

Senior officials of the Western Railways have surveyed the land identified for the project. In addition to this proposed land, the land which is currently used for the transportation of freight materials will also be granted to the WR for the new platforms, after the construction of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) in 2022. Besides, connectivity along the East-West corridor at the Vasai Road station will also be provided by WR, read reports.
The decision to establish the new platforms has received a contrasting feedback. Regular travellers have welcomed the move stating that it will be convenient for them to board a train to South India from here instead of from Dadar or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, which are far off. On the other hand, some people have stated that running operations from Vasai Road will be a difficult task. The railways will have to link the trains from these platforms via Vasai-Diva-Panvel which will be very cumbersome. Instead, an established terminus will be able to the task better, the opinions highlighted.
Initially, the Western Railways too, had proposed to construct a terminus at Vasai Road in 2013, which failed at execution. In 2017, the same project was pushed again, however, to no avail. By 2018, WR announced to set up a terminal here and the proposition included the construction of 4 platforms, 3 stabling lines for outstation trains and a new terminal building by 2023.
Boosting Mumbai's suburban 'local' train system network

The project also pipelines to connect these platforms to Mumbai's suburban local train system to operate services between Vasai and Panvel. The project, however, needs to be approved for the Indian Railways and may be tabled for the Railway Ministry later this year, following approvals from the Western Railways.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has also undertaken the task of operating local trains between Vasai and Panvel railway stations. Under this project, about 11 new railway stations have been proposed between the two stations. Further, the changes like, raising the height of AC trains and changing the present signalling equipment have also been listed among other proposals.