The four railway projects, costing Rs 94.5 bn, will add about 410 km to the network across eight districts on sections of the high-density Howrah-Chennai route. Projects include the Kharagpur-Bhadrak fourth line, Bhadrak-Haridaspur fourth line, Gummidipundi-Gudur third and fourth lines, and Cuttack-Paradeep third and fourth lines. The works are expected to increase freight carrying capacity by 76 million tonnes (mn t) per annum, supporting the movement of coal, iron ore, cement, containers, automobiles and foodgrains.
The Kharagpur-Bhadrak fourth-line project, at an estimated Rs 33.52 bn, covers 173 km and is intended to improve connectivity between steel-producing centres and the ports of Paradip and Dhamra. That corridor is estimated to create an additional freight capacity of 13 million tonnes (mn t) annually and to generate logistics cost savings of Rs 4.66 bn. The Cuttack-Paradeep section is operating at up to 101 per cent capacity utilisation and is projected to reach 177 per cent with planned expansion of ports and industrial activity.
The Cabinet also approved four-laning of the 83-km Muzaffarpur-Sitamarhi-Sonbarsa section of National Highway-22 in Bihar at an estimated Rs 35.91 bn to be implemented under the hybrid annuity model over a 30-month construction period. Once completed the corridor is expected to reduce travel time between Muzaffarpur and Sonbarsa from two hours to one hour and to improve access towards the Nepal border and regional economic centres. The approvals form part of a wider programme under NDA 3.0, which the briefing stated has covered 62 railway projects totalling Rs 2,741.76 bn, 38 highway projects totalling Rs 3,821.19 bn and 12 metro projects totalling Rs 1,464.44 bn.