Indian Railways new projects: Indian Railways has approved two projects worth Rs 345 crore in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, covering line doubling and the expansion of the indigenously-developed Kavach 4.0, an Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system.

Of these, Rs 122 crore has been approved for a 6-km Barbil-Bolanikhadan doubling project in Odisha, while Rs 223 crore has been cleared for Kavach 4.0 across 614.75 route km (RKM) of Varanasi Division in Uttar Pradesh.

Rs 122 crore railway line doubling project in Odisha

The Barbil-Bolanikhadan railway line falls under the administrative jurisdiction of South Eastern Railway (SER). The 6-km-long section is an important mineral movement corridor and has been identified under the Energy, Mineral and Cement Corridor of Indian Railways.

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The existing Barbil-Bolanikhadan section is a single-line stretch and currently handles around 9 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of traffic, including about six loaded iron ore rakes every day.

“Doubling this 6 km stretch, ahead of the full realisation of SAIL’s mine expansion and port/plant capacity additions, will help to prevent the capacity constraints in the designated mineral corridor. The approved work will support the growing freight requirements, improve rail connectivity for movement of iron ore to steel plants and ports, and strengthen rail capacity as mining, industrial and port activities expand in the region,” it said in a statement.

Rs 223 crore for Kavach 4.0 in Uttar Pradesh

On the otherhand, the Kavach will improve operational safety of trains. It will prevent Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD) and can automatically apply brakes when required. It also monitors train operations to support safer train movement.

The national transporter has been expanding Kavach 4.0 across its network. Recently, the national transporter commissioned Kavach 4.0 for the first time on the Malkajgiri-Kamareddi section of the Hyderabad Division of South Central Railway (SCR).