Consultant to study rail network

Railway Board chairman K C Jena, who was in the city on Wednesday, announced that a consultant will be appointed in the next couple of months to help the Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway, and Metro Railway adopt an integrated approach for the development of the railway infrastructure in the state.

“These organisations are planning things differently for themselves and, as a result, sometimes the benefits are not passed on. We think it is time to take a coordinated approach,” said Jena.

The consultant, according to Jena, would conduct a comprehensive study of the rail network in West Bengal and make recommendations for developing freight and passenger terminals.

“With the existing freight terminals, customers have to face certain problems like movement of trucks in the city. We are now thinking of developing terminals in the periphery,” Jena said.

Two such terminals are likely to come up at Dankuni, to be developed by the Eastern Railway, and Sankrail, to be developed by the South-Eastern Railway. The appointed consultant would also be looking at the terminals in Sealdah, Howrah and Kolkata to manage the arrival and departure of trains from the city in a better fashion.

The consultant would also be advising the local railway authorities for development of a logistic park near Dankuni to handle the container traffic on the eastern freight corridor.

Jena also met the West Bengal Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb on Wednesday and discussed the proposed extension of the eastern freight corridor beyond Dankuni. "Our aim is to connect the Kolkata Port Trust area with the eastern freight corridor. But the state government has not yet decided on the location of the deep-sea port. Once that is finalised, we have no problems in extending the railway tracks till there," Jena said.

Jena will meet the Chief Secretary next week again to ascertain how Indian Railways could help the state with the East-West Metro corridor for which the state government has sought help from the latter.