Howrah/Bhubaneswar, May 18
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched railway projects worth more than Rs 8,000 crore in Odisha on Thursday and flagged off the state’s first Vande Bharat Express that will connect Puri to West Bengal’s Howrah.
He flagged off the Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express through video-conferencing. It will be the fastest train on the route, covering the 500 km distance in around 6.5 hours, a South Eastern Railway official said in Kolkata.
Apart from that, the prime minister laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Puri and Cuttack railway stations.
He also dedicated to the nation 100 per cent electrification of the rail network in Odisha. This will reduce the operating and maintenance cost and reduce reliance on imported crude oil, an official of the East Coast Railways said in Bhubaneswar.
