BALANGIR: The trial run on the newly-laid railway line from Balangir to Bhainsapali under the Balangir-Khurda railway project was conducted on Tuesday. The 15.6-km trial run was conducted by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Southern Circle, KA Manoharan and senior railway officials and engineers. The team inspected technical areas and safety aspects of the railway track.
A train with eight coaches was used for the trial. The CRS will submit a final report to the Railway Ministry department on safety parametres of the track and fix a date to begin regular tran service on the route.
DRM of Sambalpur division, Jayadeep Gupta, however, said they were unable to take up construction work beyond Bhainsapali due to land hurdles. “Sonepur administration has not been able to take up acquisition of private land for the Balangir-Khurda rail project”, he said. Gupta hoped that the railway track could be extended to Sonepur and Boudh in the next two years.
Of 289 km between Khurda and Balangir, construction of 66-km track from Khurda to Nayagarh has been completed. With the completion of 15.6-km track between Balangir and Bhainsapali, construction of 81.6 km track has been completed.The Centre had this year sanctioned `625 crore for Khurda Road-Balangir railway project, that aims at connecting Western Odisha with Coastal part of the State.