Rajkot-Surendranagar doubling work to be completed by Dec 2022

Rajkot: The doubling of railway track between Surendranagar and Rajkot is now expected to be completed by December 2022 instead of the earlier deadline of March next year.
Divisional railway manager Parmeshwar Funkwal said on Thursday that the project deadline has been revised due to several factors, but the land acquisition work has been almost completed
The railways has completed 14 km track doubling from Digsar to Surendranagar out of total 116 km. The total project of around Rs 1,000 crore was sanctioned in 2017-18.
The track doubling project is crucial for Rajkot as it will boost the connectivity to Saurashtra’s commercial hub. Due to the small runway, the number of flights is also restricted and the proposed new airport at Hirasar near the city will take over five years to come up.
The trade and industry bodies have been demanding more railway connectivity for several years now.
In an interaction with reporters, Funkwal said, “The track doubling has now been put in the category of critical projects, so the work will be expedited and the project will not face any fund crisis. The land acquisition in Morbi and Surendrangar districts has been completed and in Rajkot it is on verge of completion.”
Also, 10 out of 16 major bridges between Rajkot and Surendrangar are about to be completed.
The electrification work between Surendrangar and Viramgam has also been completed and Rajkot railway division is targeting the work between Okha to Surendrangar by March 2021.
NEW INITIATIVE IN FREIGHT
The Rajkot railway division has put up a proposal to increase freight business by trying to attract Morbi’s ceramic units to use container traffic to Mundra port, Chennai and Bengaluru. Currently, the movement of ceramic products is done by roads. The railway also trying to attract the movement of bauxite from Bhatiya in Devbhoomi Dwarka district to various cement industries. The railway also offered a discount to Tata Chemicals for transporting edible salt in jumbo bags.
WORK ON RAJKOT’S UNDERPASSES ON TIME
Nearly 55% of the work on construction of underpass at Amrapali crossing has been completed, Funkwal said. Amrapali witnesses severe traffic snarls in abscene of a railway underpass as the road connects western part of Rajkot to the central area via Raiya Road. Officials claimed that the underpass will be ready before May next year. The Laxminagar underpass which is infamous for heavy water logging during monsoon will be completed by July 2021. The widening of airport railway crossing is 90% complete.
MASK VENDING MACHINE
The western railway plans to install automatic dispensing machines for sanitizers and masks at Rajkot and Jamnagar stations when the passenger trains resume full-fledged operations. These vending machines will also dispense, pouches,container and vomit bags. These will be available to passengers at a very nominal rate.