Centre approves Kothavalasa-Kirandul single railway line doubling.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval for the much-awaited doubling of the Kothavalasa-Kirandul (KK) railway line that falls under the Waltair division of East Coast Railway (ECoR).

While the entire KK line is 445.5 km, the CCEA has granted approval for doubling 299.498 km of the stretch from Kothavalasa in Vizianagaram district to Jagdalpur in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. The cost of the project is Rs. 4816.66 crore and it is likely to be completed within the next seven years.

However, the approved project has been divided into two components. While one component consists of doubling of the 189.278 km Kothavalasa-Koraput railway line at a cost of Rs. 2977.64 crore, the other component consists of the 110.22 km Koraput-Jagadalpur railway line that would be doubled at a cost of Rs. 1839.02 crore.

The decision to double the railway line was taken in a bid to ease the increasing freight traffic as well as increase the revenue of the Railways. Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts in Andhra Pradesh, Koraput district of Odisha and Bastar district of Chhattisgarh will be benefited by this project.

Meanwhile, the committee has also given approval for the 164.56 km Koraput-Singapur Road railway line towards Rayagada in Odisha at a cost of Rs. 2361.74 crore.


TOI