Uttarakhand’s linkage with eastern freight corridor still a pipe dream

The industries of Uttarakhand have been demanding that the state get the benefit of the eastern freight corridor, a railway corridor from West Bengal to Punjab

The industries of Uttarakhand have been demanding that the state get the benefit of the eastern freight corridor, a railway corridor from West Bengal to Punjab. It had been envisaged that Saharanpur would be linked with the eastern freight corridor, thus providing benefit to Uttarakhand, which lies in the vicinity.

Liking of Saharanpur with the railway’s eastern freight corridor will benefit industries in Uttarakhand. (Representative Picture/REUTERS Photo.)

The industry representatives had raised the demand that the state be linked with the eastern freight corridor. This ambitious project of the central government is dedicated to have a corridor that will have railway, spanning 1,839 km, from Ludhiana to Kolkata.

Pankaj Gupta, president of industries association of Uttarakhand, said that the eastern freight corridor has remained elusive for the state. We have been pressing upon the state and central government for the past several years, demanding that Uttarakhand, too, gets the benefit of the corridor with linkage ahead of Roorkee. He, however, said that the work on the Muzaffarnagar Roorkee line was stalled due to which the linkage has remained elusive.

Gupta said that the main benefit of this corridor would be easy and cheap transportation of goods through trains. “Till now, most of the transportation work is being carried out by trucks that involves more expenditure.

In December 2017, the central government had said that the first phase of the eastern freight corridor would be completed by August 2018.