Indian Railways has approved the ₹755 crore Champa–Korba Third Line Project in Chhattisgarh to increase rail capacity on one of the country’s key coal transport corridors.
The 42 km project falls under the South East Central Railway and involves construction of a third railway line between Champa and Korba, excluding the already sanctioned Madwarani–Saragbundia section, the Ministry of Railways said in a statement on Tuesday, 16 June.
The corridor has been identified under Indian Railways’ Mission 3000 MT and High-Density Network Corridor initiatives, which focus on strengthening freight movement and improving capacity on busy rail routes.
Korba is one of India’s major coal and power generation centres.
The ministry said the Champa–Korba section is a critical rail link connecting coalfields of South Eastern Coalfields Limited and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited with the national rail network and the Mumbai–Howrah High Density Corridor.
At present, the section handles around 10 pairs of passenger trains and nearly 55 pairs of freight trains every day.
The ministry said the combined coal production capacity of SECL and MCL is about 247 million tonnes per annum and is expected to rise to nearly 450 million tonnes per annum. This is likely to add around 200 million tonnes per annum of extra coal traffic in the coming years.
The third line is expected to improve operational flexibility, increase carrying capacity and support faster movement of both freight and passenger trains on the route.
Once completed, the project is expected to allow two additional passenger trains in each direction every day and support additional freight movement of 5.95 million tonnes per annum.
The ministry said the project is also projected to generate additional annual net earnings of around ₹85 crore. This includes ₹82 crore from freight traffic and ₹3 crore from coaching services.
The third line is also expected to reduce detention of freight trains, which currently face delays of around five minutes in each direction. This could result in operational savings of about ₹1.30 crore every year.
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