Engine test for new railway line

Bhubaneswar: The railways has rolled the first engine on the new Angul-Sukinda line for testing the tracks before commissioning the 98.7-km stretch.
A special purpose vehicle called Angul-Sukinda Railway Limited (ASRL) has been formed for construction and maintenance of the broad gauge single line between Budhapank (in Angul district) and Baghuapal stations (near Sukinda in Jajpur district). It is likely to become an important route for transportation of coal, iron ore and other minerals from the state.
Dilip Kumar Samantaray, managing director of ASRL, said construction of the new line is over. “After rolling of the engine on the tracks on Sunday, a trial run will be conducted. A goods train will be run on the line before its commissioning,” he added.
The project was sanctioned in 1998-99, but it was incorporated in 2009. The stretch has 230 minor bridges, 23 major bridges, 58 road over bridges (ROBs). The project which cost about Rs 2,440 crore has been completed, said ASRL sources. In November last year, an agreement for operations and maintenance was signed between ASRL and East Coast Railway (ECoR). Railways will deduct operation and maintenance cost from ASRL’s revenue, they said.
Samantaray said the new line will provide a direct link between iron ore-rich areas like Joda and Barbil to steel and sponge iron industries in Angul region. “It can be a shorter and congestion-free alternative route between the coal mining belt of Talcher and the coal-based thermal power plant in Kalinga Nagar near Sukinda,” he added.
Bhubaneswar: The railways has rolled the first engine on the new Angul-Sukinda line for testing the tracks before commissioning the 98.7-km stretch.
A special purpose vehicle called Angul-Sukinda Railway Limited (ASRL) has been formed for construction and maintenance of the broad gauge single line between Budhapank (in Angul district) and Baghuapal stations (near Sukinda in Jajpur district). It is likely to become an important route for transportation of coal, iron ore and other minerals from the state.
Dilip Kumar Samantaray, managing director of ASRL, said construction of the new line is over. “After rolling of the engine on the tracks on Sunday, a trial run will be conducted. A goods train will be run on the line before its commissioning,” he added.
The project was sanctioned in 1998-99, but it was incorporated in 2009. The stretch has 230 minor bridges, 23 major bridges, 58 road over bridges (ROBs). The project which cost about Rs 2,440 crore has been completed, said ASRL sources. In November last year, an agreement for operations and maintenance was signed between ASRL and East Coast Railway (ECoR). Railways will deduct operation and maintenance cost from ASRL’s revenue, they said.
Samantaray said the new line will provide a direct link between iron ore-rich areas like Joda and Barbil to steel and sponge iron industries in Angul region. “It can be a shorter and congestion-free alternative route between the coal mining belt of Talcher and the coal-based thermal power plant in Kalinga Nagar near Sukinda,” he added.