Bhubaneswar: The railway electrification work in the state will be expedited. This was decided on Monday at a meeting between railway board member Ghanashyam Singh and chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the state secretariat.

The progress of railway electrification work was reviewed at the meeting and state's energy secretary Hemanta Kumar Sharma furnished the updates.

It was revealed from the review that railways approved electrification of 29 railway substations - 18 under East Coast Railway and 11 under South Eastern Railway. Of them, electrification of four railway substations - Talcher Road, Rayagada, Rengali and Rairakhole - had been completed.

The electrification projects are being executed by various state government agencies. It was announced in the meeting that electrifications of 25 railway substations was in various stages of execution. Prominent among these railway substations are - Bissam Cuttack in Rayagada district, Kantabanji in Balangir district, Kesinga and Lanijigarh in Kalahandi district, Boinda in Angul district, Dunguripali in Sundargarh district, Nuapada in Nuapada district, Malatipatpur in Puri district and Patia on the outskirts of the state capital.

Padhi directed the officials of the Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited to expedite the electrification at five sub stations - Bissam Cuttack, Kantabanji, Kesinga and Boinda - and complete the work by March.

These sub-stations are located at strategic locations and missing links. Different deadlines were fixed for other ongoing projects.

The railways has been giving focus on the electrification as running the electric locomotives is eco-friendly and reduces the use of fossil fuels such as coal and diesel.

On January 27, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had written a letter to railway minister Piyush Goyal seeking an outlay of Rs 6,500 crore for the state in the coming railway budget. He has also requested the minister to expedite the ongoing rail projects besides sanctioning new railway routes and trains.

The state government is extending helping hand to the railways in order to expedite augmentation of rail infrastructure in the state.