The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved a new railway line project under the Ministry of Railways with a total cost of Rs. 18,036 crore (approx.). The proposed new line between Indore and Manmad will provide direct connectivity and improve mobility, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways. The project is in line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji’s Vision of a New India, which will make people of the region “Atmanirbhar” by way of comprehensive development in the area, which will enhance their employment/ self-employment opportunities.
The project is the result of PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity, which has been possible through integrated planning and will provide seamless connectivity for the movement of people, goods and services. The project covers 6 Districts in 2 States, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and will increase the existing Indian Railways network by about 309 Km.
This project will construct 30 New Stations, enhancing connectivity to the Aspirational District Barwani. The New Line project will provide connectivity to approximately 1,000 villages and about 30 Lakh people. The project will promote tourism in the region by providing a shorter route between the Western/ South-Western part of the country and Central India. This will increase the footfall to various tourist/ religious places in the Ujjain—Indore region, including Sri Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga Temple.
The project will provide direct connectivity to Pithampur Auto Cluster (which houses 90 large units and 700 small and medium industries) from the gateway port of JNPA and other state ports. It will also provide direct connectivity to the millet-producing districts of Madhya Pradesh and onion-producing districts of Maharashtra, which further facilitates the distribution of the same to the northern and southern parts of the country.
This is an essential route for the transportation of commodities such as agricultural products, fertilizer, containers, iron ore, steel, cement, POL, etc. The capacity augmentation work will result in additional freight traffic of a magnitude of about 26 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum). The Railways being environment-friendly and energy-efficient mode of transportation, will help both in achieving climate goals and minimizing logistics cost of the country, reduce oil import (18 Crore Litres) and lower CO2 emissions (138 Crore Kg), which is equivalent to the plantation of 5.5 Crore trees.