India, Sept. 28 -- Indian Railways has approved Rs 122 crore for the 6-km Barbil-Bolanikhadan doubling project under South Eastern Railway, aimed at strengthening rail capacity on a key mineral transportation corridor in Odisha.

The project is expected to facilitate an additional 8.9 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of freight traffic after commissioning and help reduce delays in the movement of freight trains.

The Barbil-Bolanikhadan section has been identified as part of Indian Railways' Energy, Mineral and Cement Corridor. The existing route is a single-line section and currently handles around 9 MTPA of traffic, including approximately six loaded rakes of originating iron ore traffic every day, a release by Ministry of Railways state...