ROURKELA: The proposed steel corridor with multiple interconnected new railway lines for faster and efficient freight movement in the mining belts of Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts is yet to see any visible progress.
With Sundargarh and Keonjhar going for massive steel production capacity in near future, stakeholders hold high hopes for sanction of these new lines in the upcoming Union budget.
Sources said the Karampada-Gua new line of 24.4 km was sanctioned in 2024-25 to connect the triangular mining regions of Sundargarh, Keonjhar and West Singhbhum district in adjacent Jharkhand as part of the proposed steel corridor. However, implementation of the project is yet to take place.
As part of the steel corridor, a total length of around 181 km comprising four new lines are in the pipeline. These proposed lines are for Sanindpur-Dholtapahar, Barsuan-Nuagaon, Barbil-Bhadrasahi-Banspani and Basuan-Banspani new sections. While these are funded by the mining companies, necessary funds have already been deposited with the South Eastern Railway (SER) with first location survey (FLS) completed long ago.
The SER has also proposed the Kiriburu-Barbil new line of 17.73 km which would be part of the steel corridor and benefit the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), enabling direct movement of iron ores from the SAIL mines in Sundargarh, Keonjhar and West Sighbhum along with coal from Paradip port.
Member of SER’s Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Committee and senior BJP leader Ramesh Agarwal said as part of the steel corridor, the five new lines with total length of 198.73 km have been merged into a single package. The detailed project report (DPR) has also been sent to the Railway Board for approval. In view of the recent development, it is most likely that these five lines in a single package would get the sanction and fund allocation in the next budget.
Agarwal claimed the Dumerta-Bimlagarh (third and fourth lines), Lathikata-Kalunga new line (20 km) and track doubling of Bimlagarh-Kiriburu and Bimlagarh-Barsuan sections as extended lines for the steel corridor may also get the sanction. All these lines are of critical importance for fast and efficient evacuation of minerals and freight management from the three mining belts, he added.
The proposed steel corridor with a web of new lines envisages to connect the iron-ore rich belts of Koida in Sundargarh, Barbil in Keonjhar and Kiriburu-Megatburu in West Singhbhum (Jharkhand) with Paradip, Dhamra, Gopalpur and Haldia ports besides industrial hubs of Rourkela, Kalinganagar, Angul, Jharsuguda and others.