HOWRAH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch railway projects worth more than Rs 8,000 crore in Odisha on Thursday and flag off the state’s first Vande Bharat Express that will connect Puri to West Bengal’s Howrah, officials said.
He will flag off the Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express around 1 pm through video-conferencing. It will be the fastest train on the route, covering the 500 km distance in around 6.5 hours, a South Eastern Railway official said in Kolkata.
Apart from that, the prime minister will lay the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Puri and Cuttack railway stations.
He will also dedicate to the nation 100 per cent electrification of the rail network in Odisha. This will reduce the operating and maintenance cost and reduce reliance on imported crude oil, an official of the East Coast Railways said in Bhubaneswar.
He will inaugurate the doubling of the Sambalpur-Titlagarh rail line, a new broad gauge rail line between Angul and Sukinda, the third line connecting Manoharpur-Rourkela-Jharsuguda-Jamga and a new broad-gauge line between Bichhupali and Jhartarbha.
These will cater to the increased traffic demands as a result of rapid industrial development in the steel, power and mining sectors in Odisha, and will also help ease the pressure on passenger traffic in these sections, officials said.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will grace the programme at Puri station.