Shri Manoj Joshi, General Manager, Eastern Railway interacted with the media on 6.1.2021 at Eastern Railway Headquarters, Fairlie Place where he focused on developmental works & discussed about progress of various Railway projects over West Bengal. He mentioned that there is all round developmental work by Railways and fund is no constraint for completion of projects in West Bengal.
- Shri Joshi said that Railways have invested Rs.19811.7 crores on infrastructural works and Rs. 710.3 crores on passenger amenities in Eastern Railway during 2014 – 20.
- During 2014-19, 661 km of new line/double line/triple line/quadruple line commissioned in West Bengal in comparison to 335 km during 2009-14.
- During 2014-19, 1290 km of Railway electrification work was completed in comparison to 710 km of electrification during 2009-14.
- During 2019-20, 153 km of Railway electrification was completed in West Bengal.
- Total 26 Nos. of Road over Bridges and 53 Foot over Bridges were constructed during 2014-19 while in 2019-20 alone 10 Road over Bridges and 33 Foot over Bridges were constructed.
Passenger Amenities:
- During 2014-19, 35 escalators & 32 lifts were installed while during 2019-20, 51 escalators & 35 lifts were installed.
- During 2009-14, 423 toilets were constructed for Divyangjans.
- Executive lounges were set up at Asansol, Jasidih, Durgapur & Kolkata Terminal with upper class waiting rooms at Kolkata & Sealdah Railway stations.
- In Asansol station, an open lounge was set up.
- Faster & free Wi-Fi were provided at different stations.
- CCTV monitoring & awareness campaigns on Swachhta are regularly conducted by this Railway.
Green Initiatives:
- Bottle crushing machines & mechanized coach cleaning, heavy duty scrubber machines, train cleaning by On Board Housekeeping Staff (OBHS) are also part of the Swachhta initiative.
- In 2019-20 itself, 13.2 lakhs of saplings were planted.
Solar:
- During 2014-19, total 7.08 MWP solar modules were provided.
- During this period solar panels have been provided at 42 stations and 254 level crossing gates.
- During 2019-20, 3.48 MWP solar modules have been provided.
East-West Metro Project:
- The revised cost estimate for construction of East-West Metro Project is Rs. 8574.98 crores.
- Phase-I of East West Metro Corridor from Salt Lake Sector-V to Salt Lake Stadium (5.3 km) was commissioned on 13 February 2020.
- The East West Metro Corridor has been further extended up to Phoolbagan.
- The tunnel work under river Hooghly has been completed on 9.10.2020.
- Rest tunnel work likely to be completed by next year.
Other initiatives:
- Upgradation of wagon & coach maintenance infrastructure have been given impetus in West Bengal.
- Different important infrastructural & long pending works were completed during lockdown.
- 298 Shramik Specials ran over West Bengal which carried about 3.91 lakhs of migrant workers to their native state, West Bengal.
- To combat Covid-19, extensive sanitization and disinfection work, training programmes for all paramedics, installation of automatic mask & sanitizer vending machines, automatic thermal cleaning of passengers at stations are being done by this Railway.
- Business Development Units (BDUs) set up at Headquarters & Divisional level are operating in West Bengal.
- The sidings and private terminals were improved.
- The existing warehouses and goods shed facilities were revamped.
- There is considerable increase in the average speed of freight trains.
- It enables to transport freight consignment in a time bound manner and to increase availability of wagons.
- The cumulative average speed of freight trains is 56.4 kmph which is the highest over Indian Railways.
Source: Eastern Railway-Press Release | Image Credit: Eastern Railway
