Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for the Dedicated Freight Corridor (Eastern) Project, which when completed would enable faster movement of goods across the country through rail.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had announced the freight corridor project in his minsitry's budget for 2006-07. The Rs 66,000 crore project aims to connect the four metros and its diagonals with a view to wean away goods traffic from roads.
Singh also remotely inaugurated two other railway projects -- the 45.7 km Chandigarh-Morinda linking Ludhiana directly with the union territory and the Amritsar-Haridwar Jan Shatabdi Express connecting the pilgrim centres.
The work on the 67-km second phase of Morinda-Samrala- Ludhiana link is in progress.
The Prime Minister, who his on a two-day visit to Punjab, is also scheduled to visit the Bharti Field Fresh Agriculture Centre of Excellence at Ladowal near here.