By IANS
New Delhi : The metre gauge railway line linking Ratlam-Mhow-Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh and Akola in Maharashtra will be converted to broad gauge.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday approved the railway ministry proposal.
“The work would involve 472.64 km and entail an expenditure of Rs.14.21 billion,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.
“There existed a metre gauge north-south link between Jaipur and Secundrabad covering 1,469 km. This line connected major townships like Jaipur, Ajmer and Chittaurgarh in Rajasthan, Ratlam, Indore, Mhow and Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh, Akola, Purna and Mudkhed in Maharashtra and Manoharabad and Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh.
“A distance of 805 km from Jaipur to Ratlam and Secundrabad to Purna has already been converted to broad gauge, and the work on the Purna-Akola section covering 210 km is currently underway,” the minister said, adding that the work would be complete by March this year.
The Ratlam-Akola conversion will provide a shorter route to people travelling south from Rajasthan and back. It will also provide broad-gauge connectivity for carrying food grain and other important items of daily need, and facilitate the movement of troops from the Mhow cantonment.