South Central Railway has announced commissioning of the third line on the Kolnur-Potkapalli stretch of the Kazipet-Balharshah section of the Delhi-Chennai Golden Diagonal route.
Work on the third line between the two stations, a distance of 7.746 km along with electrification and yard remodelling was completed. This now creates a continuous 64 km long third line for train operations between Potkapalli – Mandamarri, including the third line on Godavari Bridge between Manchiryal & Peddampet.
Third line work between Raghavapuram – Mandamarri for 33 km was completed in 2016. Construction of the third line for the balance stretch between Kazipet and Balharshah was sanctioned in 2015-16. The tripling of this 202 km route length was estimated to cost Rs. 2,063 crores. Of the 202 km, 159 km lies in Telangana and 43 km in Maharashtra.
The line provides connectivity to the coal belt of Central India and several power plants and industrial units along the route.
Salient Features of the third line and electrification commissioned between Kolanur and Potkapalli: –
- Construction of Third line along with electrification has been completed for distance of 7.746 kms between Potkapalli and Kolanur.
- As a part of tripling, Potkapalli yard has been remodelled with distributed Electronic Interlocking system consisting of 113 routes, 46 signals, 26 points and 50 track circuits.
- Intermediate Block Signal has been provided between Kolnur and Potkapalli with modern type signalling.
- The Non-Interlocking work has been taken up at a single stretch at Kolnur Yard, which has benefitted by reducing the train detention time.
- Mid-section Level crossing gates have been interlocked in both directions.
