Tracks restored, freight corridor project enters last leg

Nitish Sharma

Advertisement

Ambala, August 7

With the restoration of the railway tracks in the Haryana section, the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor project in the Ambala section has entered its last leg.

The section was expected to be ready in August, but floods had damaged the tracks.

Project divided into 3 parts

The project was divided into three parts (Sahnewal to Shambhu in Punjab, covering 81.6 km; Shambhu to Kalanaur in Haryana, covering 76.7 km; and Kalanaur to Pilkahni in Uttar Pradesh, covering 16.8 km).

The 175.1-km section from Sahnewal in Punjab to Pilkhani in Uttar Pradesh of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor is under the Ambala unit of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL).

As per a railways official, the recent floods had damaged the tracks laid for the corridor at two locations in Ambala district. The tracks had been restored and strengthening measures were being taken. The work for the signalling and overhead transmission line was in progress. While full-fledged trials with electric locomotives were completed in the Punjab section on June 13 and in the UP section on July 14, the material train with a diesel engine is being run on the track in the Haryana section.

Pankaj Gupta, Chief General Manager (CGM), Ambala unit of the DFCCIL, said, “Tracks in the Haryana portion of the corridor have been restored and work of the overhead transmission line and signalling was in progress. The commissioning received a minor setback due to damage from heavy rains in July, but now things have started moving on the right path.”

“We are also trying to get the safety inspection done for the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh sections from the Northern Railway by September 15 and then the DFCCIL will offer the Railways to run the goods train. The whole corridor, including the in-progress Haryana portion, will see goods trains running in October. Initially, the goods train will run at a speed of 75 km per hour, but once the finishing works will be over, the speed will be increased to 100 kmph,” he added.

The CGM said, “A total of 14 new stations have been built. At present, the process for the appointment of station masters on eight stations is on. There is a requirement of four station masters at each station. So far, nine retired station masters have been engaged and training for 23 stations masters is on for the stations covered in phase 1 and 2. The training will be completed by the August-end and then postings will be given. The postings for the key man, pointsman and other staff are also being done.”