Published On : Thu, Apr 13th, 2017

Itwari station to become satellite terminal, but when?

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Nagpur: The talk of Itwari railway station to be developed as a major port to offload heavy congestion at Nagpur railway station has been happening for last many years, however nothing substantial has surfaced as yet. Not the South East Central Railway (SECR), Nagpur Division, plans to make Itwari railway station as a satellite terminal.

Talking to journalists, divisional railway manager (DRM) AK Agrawal on Wednesday said, “Indian Railways and Maharashtra government is implementing a joint project to extend reach of railways to Gadchiroli.” Under the plan, 52 km of railway tracks will be laid in the remote areas of Gadchiroli with an estimated cost of Rs 400 crore, said Agrawal.

Agrawal also mentioned that for 2017-18, capital investment of Rs 1,000 crore will be made in the division, which is an all-time high.

“Electrification has also been sanctioned between Itwari and Chhindwara,” DRM added.

Talking about the achievements of Indian Railways and South East Central Railway (SECR) in particular, senior divisional commercial manager (SrDCM) Arjun Sibal said, “We achieved remarkable progress last year while upgrading new railway lines. The number of passengers and freight traffic has also increased.”

Sibal said SECR’s coaching earnings raised to Rs 224.60 crore. Many new trains like Humsafar Express and Antyodaya were introduced. “In the days to come, Humsafar train will also operate on Nagpur route, making it sustainable for the travellers,” said Agrawal.

Agrawal said focus is on building infrastructure on a large scale. Narrow gauge routes from Jabalpur to Sukrimangela (53km) and Sukrimangela to Ghunsore (34km) have been made broad gauge.

The SECR has fitted 224 bio-toilets in 62 coaches in Nagpur division. The ticket checking earnings have been highest ever with collection of Rs 8.34 crore. Freight earning for the last year was Rs 240.47 crore. The SECR also set a record for loading highest number of wagons loaded per day in the month of March 2017 with an average of 321 wagons average per day. The freight trains have also achieved its highest ever speed for freight carriers with a speed of 35.50 kmph.

Hopefully this time the authorities pay a serious thought towards the decision.