Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Railway Minister for State Rajen Gohan jointly inaugurated the 57 km long Hazaribagh Barkakana rail segment and extension of Koderma-Hazaribagh passenger train to Barkakana through video link on Wednesday. They also flagged off Koderma Hazaribagh passenger train to Barkakana.
At Hazaribag railway station, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha and Hazaribagh MLA Manish Jaiswal flagged off Koderma-Hazaribagh passenger train to Barkakana.
On the occasion of inauguration, the CM congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu for expansion of railway facilities in Jharkhand.
The CM said that Jharkhand is a prosperous state with full of potentials. But because of lack of rail connectivity, it could not be properly developed.
So rail connectivity needs to be increased. He thanked the Indian Railways for giving due focus on railway expansion network in Jharkhand. Many new rail projects have been started in Jharkhand. On the demand of the CM, the Railway Minister said that after some formalities, the name of Hatia-Ernakulam Express will changed to Dharti Aaba Express.
Das requested the Railway ministry to make Ranchi-Delhi Rajdhani Express a daily train and run new trains from Jamshedpur to Khatudham and Salasar. He also proposed to run a new train from Ranchi to Amritsar.
Prabhu said that the PM inaugurated Koderma Hazaribagh rail line in 2015.
The extension of this rail route is the result of the PM�s initiative. He said that with this rail route extension, a new page of development of the state has been opened. �Around 203 km Koderma- Ranchi rail route is nearly complete. Also, 66 km rail route between Barkakana and Ranchi is also on progress.
After completion, it will decrease the distance by 60 km between Koderma and Ranchi and benefit coal transportation. With the completion of Koderma- Ranchi rail route, the backward districts of Jharkhand will be benefitted. Jharkhand holds an important place in Indian Railway network and the centre and the state will increase the connectivity through forming a company,� he said.
The Rail Minister further said that on an average, Jharkhand used to get Rs. 457 crore between 2009-2014. But it has been increased to Rs. 1544 crore from the last three budgets. Moreover, this fund has been increased to Rs. 2782 crore in 2016-17 so that pending rail schemes can be completed.
He said that the new trains proposed by the Jharkhand CM will be connected with rail route following the formation of a committee in this regard soon.
Underlining the contribution of former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, he said that this project owes much to him. He also praised Jayant Sinha for his contribution to the state�s progress. Gohan also addressed the programme organized at Rail Bhawan.
Referring it to be a historic day for Hazaribagh, Jayant Sinha said that connecting Koderma- Hazaribagh rail route to Barkakana hints that in future, it can be extended to Ranchi. After getting connected with Ranchi- Hazaribagh-Koderma via Gaya, it will connect Hazaribag with Delhi and Kolkata directly. He said that railways will get good revenue from passenger and goods trains.
On this occasion, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Sunil Kumar Barnwal, CEO ( construction) East Central Railway Manoj Jha, East Central Railway GM B. K. Gayan, Chief PRO, East Central Railway A. K. Rajak, Dhanbad DRM A. K. Akhauri, Dhanbad Rail Division PRO Mr. Sanjay Prasad, Chief Advertisement Inspector Sanjay Singh and officers of Hazaribagh dist. administration were also present.