(THE NEWSMAN OF INDIA.COM)
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved The New Broad Gauge Electrified Line of 294.53 route Kms from Katghora to Dongargarh will provide rail connectivity to unserved areas of Chhattishgarh, opening them up for industrial development through movement of freight to the busy Jharsuguda-Nagpur section of Howrah Mumbai route by avoiding busy yards of Bilaspur, Champa and Durg stations.

The Korba, Bilaspur, Mungeli, Kabirdham and Rajnandgaon districts of Chhattisgarh will be benefitted by this new rail line.
Estimated cost of this project is Rs. 5950.47 crore to be implemented by a Project SPV namely Chhattisgarh Katghora-Dongarhgarh Railway Limited with equity participation of Ministry of Railways and Government of Chhattisgarh through Chhattisgarh Railway Corporation Ltd (CRCL) and private stakeholders.

With opening up of Raigarh District (Raigarh-Mand) to coal mining, it is expected that South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. and various end use miners will increase coal mining in Chhattisgarh State from the present 150MTPA to 250MTPA in near future. This project will reduce congestion on the existing Jharsuguda-Nagpur route which has more than 135% average utilization as on 2014-15. This will add nearly 30-35 MTPA capacity to system of Indian Railways which is nearly 3% of its present output. This project will also provide a faster dedicated route to west bound traffic of SECR, serve unserved areas of the State of Chhattisgarh and facilitate setting up of industry along the route. This is the first project of its kind and magnitude to be undertaken through the State Joint Venture route.