The central government has sanctioned the doubling of the crucial Prayagraj-Chunar-Chopan rail line that would facilitate ease of travelling and transportation between Sangam city and states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The government has allocated Rs 1423.96 crore to the Prayagraj division of North Central Railway (NCR) for this.
With the Mughalsarai (presently Deen Dayal Upadhyaya) yard being busy, the Northern Railway began construction of the Chunar-Chopan section as an alternative route to the Karanpura coalfields. The section from Chunar to Robertsganj-Churk on the main line was opened on July 14, 1954. This was further extended up to Garhwa Road, where a bridge was required over river Son just before Chopan. The line was finally opened on October 19, 1963.
General manager of North Central Railway (NCR) Satish Kumar said at present, this line serves the most backward tribaldominated districts of Uttar Pradesh– Sonbhadra and Mirzapur– which are connected to three states. Through this, 2054 villages, 6788 square km of area and a population of about 25 lakhs get benefits.
This rail line serves to link the main route connecting Howrah to Delhi with the energy pocket of the nation. The distance from Singrauli to Chunar via Deendayal Upadhyaya is 230 km while the distance from Singrauli to Chunar via Chopan is only 167 km, which is the shortest route between these two stations. The project supplies coal rakes from the Singrauli belt.
Doubling of the Chunar-Chopan section will lead to reduction in travel time as well as additional freight handling and lower logistic cost. Presently five existing power plants, including Meja Urja plant at Meja, the power plant at Deora (Shankargarh), Panki power plant, Harduaganj power plant and NTPC Dadri power plant, uses coal transported using this railway line.
Besides, the Chunar-Chopan section is a single line section, currently handling 20 to 22 goods trains and 14 coaching trains per day. The line capacity utilization of this section is 214%. The traffic on Chunar-Chopan section has increased tremendously and is increasing rapidly after the commissioning of DFCCIL, said chief public relation officer of NCR, HS Upadhyay.
“Around 39.34 MT coal was produced by Northern Coalfield Limited Singrauli in 2020-21 which is likely to increase to 65.71 MT in 2026-27 and 71.37 MT by 2029-30. To transport this coal to the power plants of North India, this double line will help in supplying coal and making the nation self-sufficient in the field of energy,” he said.
Along with this, approval has also been given for the third and fourth line work of the 374 km long Sonnagar-Andal section at a cost of Rs 13606 crore, the official added.
