Railway rolls out train on coal-rich Tori-Balumath line

An important section of the much-awaited 44.37 km long Tori-Shivpur rail line was inaugurated by Union Minister of State Manoj Sinha, who on Friday flagged it off via video conferencing from Delhi. The section crossing through heavily Naxal-infested and inaccessible terrains of Jharkhand’s Latehar and Chatra districts is of 19.3 km. Proposed Tori-Shivpur rail line which is aimed to prominently transport coal produced by the Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) Magadh and Amrapali coalfields has been funded by the subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL).

It is learnt that the section itself would carry 15 racks of the fossil fuel each from both the mines located in Latehar which would grow up in capacity after the corridor is fully operative. Speaking on the occasion, Manoj Sinha said that the long-pending Tori-Balumath railway line was a crucial project for faster coal transportation from mines in Jharkhand to source power plants.

“The project took a long time but it is passing through naxal-affected area where staffs of the Railways worked while risking their lives. I would thank them as well as the Jharkhand Government for extending security to the work,” said the Minister while adding that the rest of the project was expected to complete in one year’s time. Sinha, on the occasion, also lauded the State Government for facilitating speedy work taken place during last three and half year time. “The new State Government and also MoEF worked tirelessly for removing hurdles in recent past. Work has taken place in a difficult terrain and the area which has been highly overlooked. Now, we all expect through this line the region would be lifted socially and economically,” said he.

The Minister also added that decision in the favour of making Muri a stoppage for Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express had been made. Chatra MP Sunil Kumar Singh and ER officials were present at Rail Bhawan on the occasion while CIL CMD Gopal Singh and other railway officials were present at Tori.

Speaking on the occasion Chairman, Coal India cum CCL, CMD Gopal Singh said that an 18-year-old dream has been realized. He appreciated the combined effort of Coal India/ CCL and Indian Railways to ensure that the project could see the light of the day. Railway is a symbol of development and this project will benefit the common people, Singh emphasized. He said that this project will not only increase the coal production and dispatch but will lead to opening new mines and hence will generate employment for the youths, which is paramount. Work on the railway line had started in August 2000 with an initial completion date as 2006 but due to various issues starting from security to statuary clearances involved, it has seen inordinate delay.

It is expected that 150 MT of coal from CCL’s Magadh, Amrapali, Chandragupta and Sanghamitra open cast mines would be transported by the national transporter in a year which would fetch Rs 12000 crore as revenue to it. The line at the same time would significantly reduce air pollution and carbon foot print by promoting environmental friendly transportation of coal and provide jobs to the locals. Three new stations would come up on the freight section.

On the occasion, MLA (Latehar) Prakash Ram; DRM, Dhanbad, Manoj Kumar Akhauri; AGM, ECR, Anoop Kumar; CAO, ECR, B Chaudhary; , COOM, ECR, Salil Jha, Director (Technical), CCL, AK Mishra; Director (Personnel), RS Mahapatra and dignitaries were present.