Amaravati on Indian Railways map

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved two rail projects worth Rs 6,798 crore - a 57-km-long line connecting Andhra Pradesh's new capital Amaravati.

"To provide connectivity to Amaravati, a new 57-km-long line worth Rs 2,245 crore will be constructed. For this, a 3.2-km-long new bridge will be constructed across the river Krishna which will be among the longest bridges of the Indian Railway," Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. He said this ambitious project will provide connectivity from Amaravati to all metros, including Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, while thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sanctioning the new rail line and new bridge across the river Krishna suggested that an iconic bridge be constructed in tune with the design of the capital city of AP Amaravati.

In another major decision, the Union Cabinet approved the doubling of the Narkatiaganj-Raxaul-Sitamarhi-Darbhanga and Sitamarhi-Muzaffarpur section in Bihar covering 256 km.

Both these projects will mainly benefit Andhra Pradesh and Bihar in which the BJP is in alliance with the TDP and the JDU, respectively. The new rail line project Errupalem-Amaravati-Namburu traverses through NTR Vijayawada and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh and Khammam district of Telangana. Vaishnaw also spoke to Chandrababu Naidu and AP Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan about the decisions of the Union Cabinet. According to the government, these two projects cover eight districts in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar and will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 313 km.

Highlighting the benefits of these two projects, the minister said the new line project will provide connectivity to approximately 168 villages and about 12 lakh population with 9 new stations.

According to the government, these are essential routes for the transportation of commodities such as agriculture products, fertilizer, coal, iron ore, steel and cement. He said the capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 31 MTPA (million tonnes per annum).

The Railways, being an environment friendly and energy efficient mode of transportation, will help both in achieving climate goals and minimizing logistics cost of the country, lower CO2 emissions (168 crore Kg) which is equivalent to plantation of 7 crore trees, he added.

The new line proposal will provide direct connectivity to Amaravati and improve mobility for industries and the population, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability for the Indian Railways. The projects are result of PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity which have been possible through integrated planning and will provide seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services.