The Hindu Business Line : Rlys plans to begin work on freight corridor this fiscal

Hyderabad, July 11 The Railways is planning to begin construction work on the exclusive freight corridor this financial year. In all likelihood, it would kick off the project by taking up construction of some bridges on rivers and streams along the West coast.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Mr Satish K. Vij, Member (Engineering) of the Railway Board, said the Railways was in the process of tying up funds to meet the projected budget of Rs 30,000 crore to complete the 3,000-km freight corridor.

Mr Satish was here in connection with the inaugural of ‘Recent advances and future trends in design and construction of bridges’, organised by the Indian Institute of Bridge Engineers and National Bridge’s R&D Centre.

Regarding the timeline, he said the project was expected to be completed in seven years. “However, the first goods train on the corridor could move on still earlier as parts of the project would be ready much earlier,” he said.

40 applications

The Railways had, so far, received at least 40 applications from players (from India and abroad), showing interest in taking part in the corridor project. Stating that finding financial and human resources were some of the challenges, he said efforts were on to tie up funds for the projects. While Japan showed interest in the western corridor with a likely investment of Rs 12,000 crore, the World Bank is keen on the eastern corridor (Kurda-Mughal Sarai).

On taking up projects abroad, he said Rail Vikas Nigam did receive enquiries from some African countries and Indonesia.

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