Upgraded Jabalpur-Gondia route cuts distance to south by 266km

Nagpur: Ushering in the new era of train travel, the Indian Railways has commercially launched train operations on its upgraded Jabalpur-Nainpur-Gondia section under the Nagpur division of South East Central Railway (SECR).
The weekly 02389-02390 Gaya-Chennai-Gaya will be the first superfast express to operate on this route. Earlier, this train passed through Jabalpur-Itarsi-Nagpur-Wardha-Ballarshah section under the Nagpur division of Central Railway.From January 3, the train will take the shortest route via Jabalpur-Nainpur-Balaghat-Gondia-Ballarshah.
“The new alignment of the section passes through Gondia district of Maharashtra and Balaghat, Mandla, Seoni, and Jabalpur districts of Madhya Pradesh. The new route will reduce the travelling length by 266km, which apparently means it will cut journey time by at least 4-5 hours,” said divisional commercial manager (DCM) Anurag Kumar Singh.
The distance between Jabalpur-Nagpur-Ballarshah is 754km, while the distance between Jabalpur-Balaghat-Gondia-Ballarshah distance is 488km.
“Nagpur will lose one train but the loss will be for the betterment of passengers travelling from to end to end. In future, some new trains can be introduced towards Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Central India via Jabalpur-Balaghat-Gondia route. The new route will also reduce congestion in the Nagpur-Ballarshah section,” said Basant Shukla, secretary Bharatiya Yatri Kendra (BYK).
SECR officials said the project to upgrade 285km narrow gauge section to broad gauge between Jabalpur and Gondia was sanctioned in 1996-97. It took 24 odd years to get the project commissioned. The present project cost is overRs 2,005 crore.
On the delay, an SECR construction wing official said, “Work on the project was stopped between 2011 and 2016 due to forest clearance for 76 hectares land in tiger and wildlife corridors. The last section between Nainpur-Samnapur (60km) was completed in October paving way for commercial operations for trains.”
As per the first train schedule, the 02389 Gaya-Chennai express will run on every Sunday while 02390 Chennai-Gaya will run every Tuesday between January 3 and 31.