The line will be completed by 2028–29 and generate direct employment for about 102 lakh man-days during construction. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a new railway line project worth Rs.18,036 crores between Indore and Manmad to provide direct connectivity and improve mobility. The project is a result of the PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity, which will be executed through integrated planning and aims for seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services. With this project, 30 new stations will be constructed, providing enhancing connectivity to aspirational district, Barwani. New Line project will provide connectivity to approximately 1,000 villages and about 30 lakh population.
The project will promote tourism in the region by providing a shorter route between the Western and South-Western parts of the country and Central India. It will increase tourist footfall to various religious places of the Ujjain-Indore region, including the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga Temple. The project is also expected to provide direct connectivity to millet-producing districts of Madhya Pradesh and onion-producing districts of Maharashtra, which further aids in the distribution of the same to Northern and Southern parts of the country. The line will provide direct connectivity to the Pithampur auto cluster, which houses 90 large units and 700 small and medium industries from the gateway port of JNPA and other State Ports.
The authorities said that this is an essential route for transportation of commodities such as agriculture products, fertiliser, containers, iron ore, steel, cement, POL and more. The capacity augmentation work is expected to result in additional freight traffic of a magnitude of about 26 million tonnes per year. The railways, being an environment-friendly and energy-efficient mode of transportation, will help both in achieving climate goals and minimising logistics costs of the country, reduce oil import (18 crore litres) and lower carbon dioxide emissions (138 crore NS), which is equivalent to plantation of 5.5 crore trees.
