2 hours will be saved if Rajdhani runs on new tracks

Ranchi, March 9: Waving a green flag from Rail Bhavan in Delhi, railway minister Suresh Prabhu today launched the third and final phase of the 111km Ranchi-Tori line, by sending off a train from the state capital to Lohardaga, while chief minister Raghubar Das and other dignitaries joined the function via videoconferencing.

In his address, Prabhu assured the chief minister of all cooperation for increasing amenities and facilities at railway installations in Jharkhand. "Compared to 2005 and 2014, we have upped our rail budget for Jharkhand more than double now. We are also working on commissioning 2730km of tracks to widen rail network from the existing 456km in the state," he said.

The Tori line project was conceived in 1997, but work began only in 2001. Today, as a part of third phase, the Barki-Chapi-Tori link of 29.5km was commissioned marking the completion of the Ranchi-Tori project at a cost of Rs 600 crore.

Senior Ranchi railway divisional commercial manager Niraj Kumar said following the extension of the broad gauge line from Barki Chapi-Tori today, the total length of Ranchi-Lohardaga-Tori line has become 111km. "In 2005, a passenger train was first sent to Lohardaga on this line. That was the first phase of the project. In 2011, the line was extended till Barki Chapi as part of second phase. Today, from Barki Chapi it finally got extended to Tori marking the end of the historic project," he explained.

"There are 11 cuttings with a maximum height of 40m, 27 sharp curves with maximum of 4 degree, and deep gorges having via duct piers at a height of 42.5m. There are 17 major bridges, including 4 ROBs, 2 road under bridges, 8 limited height subways and 43 minor bridges, on this line," he said.

SER GM Agarwal said work on the third phase was challenging. "The geography was tough and there were issues regarding land acquisition. The line passes through hilly areas. But the state government extended its cooperation to speed up the process," he said, adding that railways were now working out ways to run Rajdhani on the new line, which if it happens, would cut travel time by at least two hours.

Das eying Hyperloop

Chief minister Das said he was considering setting up a hyperloop project in Jharkhand starting with the 140km Ranchi-Jamshedpur stretch to offer people a cutting edge travel experience.

"During the Global Investors' Summit, a foreign company came up with this proposal. I am planning to meet their representatives in the next few days in Ranchi to take this forward," he said.

Das promised to speak to the railway minister in a day or two to seek his consent before conducting feasibility studies.

"The distance between Ranchi and Jamshedpur can be traversed in 9 minutes. I am hoping the Centre gives its consent so that we can start preparing. We are prepared to cut costs too," he said.