Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) and Angul-Sukinda Railway Limited (ASRL) have signed an agreement for operations and maintenance (O&M) of 98.7-km broad gauge single railway line between Budhapank station (Angul) and Baghuapal station (Sukinda). Managing Director of ASRL Dilip Kumar Samantaray and Chief Commercial Manager (Freight) of ECoR H L Luang signed the memorandum on November 29 in the presence of ECoR General Manager Roop Narayan Sunkar.

ASRL to construct & maintain East Coast Railway's 98.7-km broad gauge line

Angul-Sukinda Railway Limited is an SPV incorporated by the Ministry of Railway through Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL). It has been formed for the purpose of construction and maintenance of 98.7-km broad gauge railway line between Budhapank station (Angul District) and Baghuapal station (near Sukinda in Jajpur District) in Odisha.

'New rail line to provide direct link from iron-ore rich areas of Odisha to steel industries in Angul region'

"This new rail-line will provide a direct link between iron-ore rich areas of Odisha (Joda-Barbil) to steel and sponge iron industries in Angul region. It also provides a shorter and congestion-free alternative route between the coal mining belt of Talcher to coal-based thermal power plant in Kalinga Nagar Industrial areas at Sukinda," an official said.

"This new line will be in close proximity to the steel plants in Angul region, NALCO and a cluster of industries located in Kalinga Nagar area of Odisha," the official stated.

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New line will reduce distance between RSP & Paradip Port

The official further added that the project line will also reduce the distance between Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) and Dhamara/Paradeep Ports. "Dispatch of finished products of steel plants from Kalinga Nagar complex to destinations in Mumbai and Delhi via Talcher-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda will also be shorter and cheaper via the new alignment as compared with the route via Kharagpur," the official said.

The 98.70-km-long project was sanctioned in 1998-99 and was incorporated in 2009. After the process of land acquisition and other technical solutions, the project of about Rs 2,440 crore has been targeted to be completed by December 2022.

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