New Delhi, Dec 29 : A total of 58 railway projects have been sanctioned across three economic corridors, with a combined completion cost of about Rs 88,875 crore and a total track length of about 4,107 kilometres during 2024 as part of the Centre’s strategy to spur economic growth in the country through big infrastructure projects, according to the year-end review of the Indian Railways.
The projects include Energy, Mineral and Cement Corridors, High Traffic Density Routes and Rail Sagar corridors,
A total of 434 projects have been planned for implementation under these three corridors.
The Energy, Mineral and Cement Corridors accounted for 51 projects, spanning 2,911 kilometres with a completion cost of Rs 57,313 crore.
The High Traffic Density Routes included 5 projects, covering about 830 kilometres and costing about Rs 11,280 crore.
The Rail Sagar corridor covers two projects, with a total track length of about 366 kilometres and a completion cost of about Rs 20,282 crore.
The total Capex for 2024-25 is Rs 2,65,200 crore, which is the highest amount allocated in the budget, till now.
In order to boost investment from industry in setting up cargo terminals along railway lines, Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminals (GCT) are also being developed across the country.
So far, 354 locations (327 on non-railway land and 27 on railway land) have been identified across the country. As many as 91 GCTs have been commissioned this year.
To expedite projects, Indian Railways has also streamlined its project engineering and management processes. All the pending cases of the Engineering Department of various Zonal Railways on Indian Railways E-Procurement System (IREPS) have been disposed of under “one time settlement scheme called ‘Vivad Se Vishwas II’ (Contractual Disputes)”.
To address uncertainties in the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) tendering mode, a new ‘Schedule G-1’ has been included for the Bill of Quantities for itemised works, the review added.
–IANS