BHUBANESWAR: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) is in the process of preparing a 30-year master plan for the entire Bhubaneswar - Cuttack region to make it among the best in the country, General Manager of East Coast Railway Indra Ghosh has said. Addressing the Republic Day function, he said plans are afoot for upgrading the existing facilities at Bhubaneswar and Puri stations. Automatic signaling between Mancheswar and Retang will be commissioned by March 31 and by end of 2013, the same system will be installed between Barang and Khurda. An additional platform face at Bhubaneswar is expected to be commissioned within the next eight months. ECoR has been given the task of introducing seven new express and passenger train services. Out of these budgeted trains, three have already been introduced and the remaining trains will be introduced by the end of year. He informed that ECoR has turned in the best ever performance in the current year. Up to December 2011, the zone recorded a freight loading of 87.16 million tonne as compared to 79.98 million tonne in the previous year. In the passenger sector, ECoR carried 63.91 million passengers as compared to 59.13 million last year. Similarly, ECoR generated Rs 6,670 crore as revenue in the current year compared to Rs 6,218 in the corresponding period last year. Ghosh said the Kottavalasa-Simhachalam fourth line has already been commissioned while doubling of Sambalpur-Rengali section is on. Doubling of Rajathgarh-Radhakishorpur, Khurda Road-Begunia and Lanjigarh-Bhawanipatna are targeted for commissioning by March end. Similarly, traffic facility works at 95 locations have been completed, while rail connectivity to all the mega ports is underway on war-footing. On completion, East Coast Railway will be the number one Railway in providing connectivity to Ports, Ghosh added.
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