Continuing with the growth trajectory, two major railway projects worth over Rs 850 crore would be kicked off by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 27 October from Faridabad, a big boost to the rail sector in Haryana.

While Shah will be dedicating the Rs 535 crore rail coach factory in Sonipat to the public, he will also be inaugurating the 4.84 km long elevated track in Rohtak in Haryana. Both the programmes would be launched through video conferencing link from Faridabad.

Constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 315.46 crore,  the elevated Rohtak-Gohana-Panipat section is expected to ease the traffic congestion in Rohtak to a great extent.

Situated at 161 acres of land, the rail coach factory also known as Rail Coach Navineekaran Karkhana at Barhi in Sonipat is expected to cater to the huge demand of maintenance and refurbishment of large number of LHB coaches as well as manufacturing of Vande Bharat trains in the later stage.

The LHB coaches with a minimum of 15 years of service are to be refurbished at this facility. The factory will also develop its infrastructure to manufacture and maintain semi-high speed trainsets.

There are a total 502 Vande Bharat trains slated to be manufactured in the next three-four years. While 200 Vande Bharat trains with sleeper facility are expected to be deployed in longer routes, rest are to be deployed in inter-city service.

While rail coach factories at Chennai, Rae Bareli and Kapurthala are equipped to manufacture Vande Bharat trains, Sonipat is also expected to join these three companies for making semi-high speed trainsets.

With the dual aim of capacity enhancement and increasing the capital expenditure, the Railways is on a spree of launching infrastructure projects, flagging off new-age trains and awarding huge contracts involving rolling stocks.

Recently, the Railways has floated tenders for manufacturing 9,000 horse power electrical locomotives at Dahod and 12,000 HP electrical locos at Benaras Loco Works.

Besides, the Railways has decided for procurement of 90,000 wagons, a largest work order in the wagon sector, to boost goods movement.

Indian Railways has floated tenders inviting major players for manufacturing forged wheels in the country for LHB coaches.

In a major shift in policy, the Railways is redeveloping about 200 major stations across the country at its own cost to provide modern amenities to passengers.

While the revenue earnings have also gone up as compared to the previous years, both passenger and goods sectors have shown significant growth in August and September this year.

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