Gujarat gets seven new trains, and a Rail Neer bottling plant

A new "Rail Neer" bottling plant, a skill development centre and seven new trains are among several proposals that have been made for Gujarat in the Railway Budget (2013-14) presented in the Lok Sabha Tuesday.

The new express train services proposed by Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal include the Ahmedabad-Jodhpur Express (weekly via Samdari, Bhildi and Gandhidham) and the Visakhapatnam Express (weekly via Ahmedabad, Wardha, Ballarshah and Vijaywada).

The other new proposed express trains that will connect parts of Gujarat include the Bandra Terminus-Hisar Express (weekly via Ahmedabad, Palanpur) and the Bandra Terminus-Haridwar Express (weekly via Valsad).

The new passenger trains proposed for Gujarat include Bhavnagar-Palitana Passenger (daily), Bhavnagar-Surendranagar Passenger (daily), Nadiad-Modasa passenger (6 days a week), Surendranagar-Dharangdhara Passenger (daily) and Somnath-Rajkot passenger (daily).

Trains that will see their present services being extended include the Porbandar-Veraval Passenger which will now run up to Somnath and DEMU running between Morbi-Wankaner, which will go up to Rajkot.

Meanwhile, the frequency of the following trains from Gujarat have been increased: Ahmedabad-Nagpur Express (will now run three days from earlier 2 days a week), Agra Fort-Ahmedabad Express (daily from the earlier 3 days) and Gorakhpur-Ahmedabad Express (run on 2 days from earlier 1).

The railway minister has also proposed Ahmedabad to be one among the six centres that will have a Rail Neer bottling plant. The others are Vijaywada, Nagpur, Lalitpur, Bilaspur and Jaipur. The ministry of railways also proposes to set up a centre to impart skills to youth in railway-related trades at Ankleshwar, which is among 25 such locations.

As far as the railway infrastructure is concerned, the tracks in the section between Bardoli-Vyara and Viramgam-Sadla has been proposed to be doubled during the year 2013-14.

Among the new projects proposed for the year 2013-14 is the railway line connecting Palanpur-Samakhiali section, which will be taken up for doubling under the PPP mode while a third line will be laid between Vatva-Ahmedabad.

... contd.

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