The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, in a recent meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its nod to raise the speed to 160 Kmph on existing New Delhi-Howrah route, including Vadodara-Ahmedabad.
The project, which is expected to be completed in four years, will bear a financial implication of Rs 6,806.44 crore. It will be funded through extra-budgetary resources/institution financing.
After completion, the project will reduce the travel time of the premium Rajdhani type train upto 10 hours -- which now takes 15 hours 30 minutes. The average speeds of freight/passenger trains (Mission Raftaar) will also improve and the execution of these projects will considerably enhance safety.
According to the government's plan, the project will also generate direct/indirect employment of 210 million man-days during the execution period. Apart from this, the project is also expected to spur demand in ancillary industries and sectors such as heavy engineering, steel, cement, non-ferrous metallurgy, mining, logistics etc.
The implementation will be taken under the EPC contract in order to complete the project in a fixed time and at a fixed cost and reduce delays and cost overrun while also ensuring better coordination and economies of scale.
Notably, Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes carry 29 per cent of passenger traffic and 20 per cent of freight traffic. The new Delhi-Mumbai route will pass through seven states namely Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
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