ROURKELA: The South East Central Railway (SECR) has completed the detailed project report (DPR) of the proposed Sardega (Sundargarh)-Pathalgaon-Ambikapur new rail line and reportedly submitted it to the Railway Ministry for approval.
This was revealed by Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Lok Sabha on December 3. Replying to an unstarred question of Sarguja MP Chintamani Maharaj, Vaishnaw said the DPR has been completed and is under consideration for approval.
The new line proposal of 218 km holds significance for the tribal-dominated district as it envisages setting up the first and direct train link to Sundargarh town.
Earlier, final location survey (FLS) for the new line proposal from Sardega in Hemgir block of the district via different unconnected blocks of Sundargarh to Pathalgaon (Chhattisgarh) with the length of around 128 km was completed. Another FLS from Chhattisgarh’s Pathalgaon to Ambikapur with length of about 90 km was also conducted. These were later combined with the total envisaged track length of 218 km for Sardega-Pathalgaon-Ambikapur link.
General secretary of Rail Vikash Sangram Samiti Dhrub Kalo hoped that the proposal would be sanctioned with budgetary provision in the upcoming union budget. He said the railway station of Sundargarh town would come up near Balijore. This would pave way for rail connectivity to the town.
Sardega is already connected to the Howrah-Mumbai main line at Jharsuguda. The proposed Sardega-Pathalgaon-Ambikapur line further envisages to connect with another new line proposal of 152 km from Ambikapur to Renukoot (Uttar Pradesh) on the Howrah-Delhi main line,” Kalo added.