PM Modi to visit poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on August 12, unveil new railway line

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Madhya Pradesh on August 12. During his visit to the poll-bound state, he will lay foundation stones, including that of rail and road sector projects.

PM Modi will dedicate to the nation the project marking the completion of the doubling of the Bina-Kota rail route. The additional railway line will be launched in Sagar, and will help ease coal movement.

Slow movement has had an immediate impact on the movement of coal in Eastern MP to more than half a dozen thermal power projects between Bina and Kota.

The 288.236 km Bina-Kota railway line doubling project will reduce the turnaround time in movement of freight and passengers on the section.

The project was announced in 2012, but work commenced in the right earnest only in 2019. The project was completed in January 2023. It has been executed by the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).

“There are at least 8 power stations between Bina and Kota that are supplied with coal by the railway route. Earlier, with just one line existing between Bina and Kota, this movement was slow, but with the new line, the turnaround time has been reduced in a big way, allowing for an increase in coal volume transported too,” said DK Pandey, Chief Project Manager, RVNL, who has been overseeing the project for some years.

The railway line was cleared for 110 kmph maximum sectional speed, right from the beginning. The project, which has been built at an estimated cost of more than Rs 2,475 crore, passes through Kota and Baran districts in Rajasthan, and Guna, Ashoknagar and Sagar districts in Madhya Pradesh.

The project has 37 stations, 28 major and 202 minor bridges. The infrastructure development work has also been carried out at railway stations on the section and transport of passengers has also increased substantially.