As per the guide lines from the central government, Coal India Limited (CIL) a public sector unit (PSU)- which is sitting over a huge cash reserve of Rs.55000 crores (USD 11 billion) – is all set to invest about 1.1 billion in railway infrastructure.
The PSU plans to construct a total of 500 kilometers of railway lines spread across three states of Odisha, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand to link the primary coal belts of India. These lines would connect places like Mcluskieganj, Piprawar, Todishibpur, Hazaribagh in Jharkhand state, Angul, Kalinga, Jharsugda, Sherdegha in Odisha state and Barud, Bhubdebpur, Annupur in Chattisgarh state.
As per Ms Zohra Chatterjee the acting CMD and A K Sinha director (Finance) of CIL, these railway tracks will be constructed over four to five year periods and these lines would be handling about 300 million tones (primarily coal) per annum.
Obviously this infrastructure expenditure would be a boon to cash strapped Indian Railways.