Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 23: The Final Location Survey (FLS) of the 498-km-long Bilaspur Manali-Leh New Railway Line Project has been completed.
Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnav told Lok Sabha on March 22 in reply to a written question of BJP Member Parliament (MP) from Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.
“The Final Location Survey (FLS) of 498-km-long proposed Bilaspur-Manali-Leh new railway line project has been completed and the Detailed Project Report has been prepared,” the Union Minister of Railways told Lok Sabha.
In order to connect Leh with a broad gauge railway line to provide all-weather connectivity with the rest of the country, the Indian Railway took up the Final Location Survey, a precursor to actual construction from Bilaspur to Leh via Manali, after the foundation stone of the FLS of Bilaspur-Manali-Leh New Broad Gauge Line was laid on June 27, 2017 by then Union Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhu, in Leh.
Laying the foundation stone, the then Railways Minister had stated that the project is of both strategic and economic, development and tourism importance, with its unique distinction of being the highest railway track in the world. Thus far, China’s Qinghai-Tibet Railway Line is the highest railway track in the world.
To make the Bilaspur-Manali-Leh Railway Line constructible, most economic, safe, and all-weather railway line of the world, the various activities as part of the Final Location Survey included analysis of the selected corridor and development of most suitable alignment, geological and geophysical investigations and design of bridges, tunnels & viaducts, marking of central line of alignment on site, and preparation and submission of Detailed Project Report (DPR).
While the Union Minister, Ashwini Vaishnav, told the Lok sabha that the DPR of the identified project has been prepared, he said, “it is not sanctioned yet”, when asked about the timeline to complete the project, by the BJP MP from Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.
“The project is not sanctioned yet. As such, no timeline can be fixed for its commencement.”
The Minister further said that Bilaspur-Manali-Leh new line partly falls in the UT of Ladakh and has been identified as a strategic line by the Ministry of Defence.
Pertinently, the proposed alignment of the railway line shall connect Mandi, Kullu, Manali, Keylong and other important towns of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir en-route.
Follow our WhatsApp channel