Railway overhaul depot in Sambalpur soon

SAMBALPUR: A Routine Overhaul (ROH) depot that would be able to overhaul at least 100 rail wagons in a month will be established at Maneswar in Sambalpur city at an estimated cost of `49.16 crores. This was declared by Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Sambalpur under East Coast Railway, Jaideep Gupta, on Monday. “The land for the project has already been identified. The drawing for the ROH has also been finalised and is at the approval stage. The tender for the project will be floated soon after the drawing is approved,” Gupta said. Subsequently, the capacity of the depot will be increased.

“An Electric Loco Periodical Overhaul (POH) workshop will be set up at Narla Road under Sambalpur division at an estimated cost of `186.37 crore. The location and land requirement have already been submitted to the district revenue authorities,” he added. The electric locomotives are overhauled every six years. It takes about one month to overhaul a locomotive completely. The works will be carried out after the POH workshop is established at Narla Road. Besides, the tender for construction of Road Over Bridge (ROB) with Foot Over Bridge (FOB) at Khetrajpur has already been floated. The work on the project will be completed within 18 months after the work order is handed over to the contractor. “Another ROB has been sanctioned at the busy level-crossing at Durgapali area in the city.

The General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) has been received from the State Government recently and the work on the project will start soon after getting the approval from East Coast Railway Headquarters,” Gupta said. Shedding light on the earnings of the Sambalpur Railway Division, Gupta said the division has earned `71.43 crores and `385.08 crores under the head of Passenger and Freight Earnings respectively during the period from April to September in the fiscal 2017-18. The earnings of division stood at `69.18 crore and `343.63 crore under the head of Passenger and Freight Earnings respectively in the last fiscal 2016-17.