The setting up of the Mohali-Rajpura broad-gauge rail link will be discussed and the detailed project report (DPR) will be prepared at the earliest, Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu said on Sunday.

The link will join Chandigarh with Punjab on the shortest link on the New Delhi-Amritsar main line at Sarai Banjara, said Bittu who was addressing his first press conference here after becoming a Union minister.

Replying to a question, Bittu said he would take up the issue of setting up the rail link with Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The link is a longstanding demand of the people of the state as it will make the trip shorter by 55 km from the present route of Rajpura-Ambala and shorter from the Mohali-Morinda link.

The DPR of the rail link was earlier prepared in 2016-17 with a project cost of Rs 312.53 crore.

Almost eight years have passed and despite repeated reminders, there is no response from the government of Punjab, he said.

A revised DPR will be prepared and will be shared with the Punjab government for further necessary action, the minister added.

Giving details about the rail link, Bittu said that the section would be 38.880 km long covering 43.192 hectares in three districts -- SAS Nagar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala.

Bittu said a new line of 55 km is targeted in the current financial year for the Ludhiana-Mullanpur, Ludhiana Kila-Raipur and Nangal Dam-Talwara Mukerian at a cost of about Rs 2,400 crore.

The minister said 30 stations in Punjab are being redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.

These stations are Amritsar, Anandpur Sahib, Nangal Dam, Rupnagar, SAS Nagar, Bathinda, Mansa, Kotkapura, Moga, Sirhind, Abohar, Fazilka, Firozpur Cantt, Mukatsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot Cantt, Pathankot city, Hoshiarpur, Phagwara, Jalandhar Cantt, Jalandhar city, Phillaur, Beas, Kapurthala, Dhandari kalan, Ludhiana, Patiala, Dhuri, Malerkotla and Sangrur.

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