Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Saturday inaugurated the 18 km stretch of Gopinathpur Nilgiri-Balasore passenger railway line and flagged off a newly introduced MEMU train.

The MEMU train between Gopinathpur Nilgiri to Balasore in South Eastern Railway division will operate thrice in a day, railway official said.

Flagging off the train at Gopinathpur Nilgiri railway station, Vaishnaw said that Odisha on an average gets Rs 10,000 crore each year for the development of railway infrastructure under the NDA government of Narendra Modi. The allocation for the state under the UPA government was very low.

He said Odisha is getting Modi's special attention for development of railways and no delegation from Odisha is required to seek it. “While the average expansion of railway track was earlier only 25 to 30 km a year, it is more than 450 km in the national network in a year now,” the minister said.

Speaking of the railway projects in Odisha, Vaishnaw said the Jaleswar-Chandaneswar rail route survey work has been completed and it will be extended up to Digha in West Bengal very soon. A new railway flyover at Khatapada in Balasore district will also be commissioned.

An official of S E Rly said, three pairs of MEMU passenger specials will run on a daily basis between Gopinathpur Nilgiri-Balasore from January 14. The trains will have total eight coaches - two motor coaches and six trailer coaches.

The old railway track was built in 1909 by the British during the beginning of 19th century. It was meant to ferry granite stones and forest products from Niligiri area to Kolkata via Balasore. Later, the railway line was abandoned and became almost defunct.

In separate functions the minister laid the foundation stone for a subway at Betanoti railway station for providing passenger amenities and inaugurated a booking counter there.

Vaishnaw started his 2-day Balasore visit by offering prayers at the famed Khirachora Gopinath Temple. He was accompanied by Balasore MP & ex-minister Pratap Sarangi. He also participated in the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra at Remuna Hanuman Kalyan Mandap.

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