Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Member of Parliament from Gandhinagar L.K. Advani on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for gauge conversion of Ahmedabad-Mehsana rail line in Gujarat.With this gauge conversion, there will be double broad gauge line between Ahmedabad and Mehsana resulting in faster connectivity.Suresh Prabhu said that in the coming years passengers are only going to increase and hence the rail infrastructure needed to be improved.Ahmedabad-Mehsana track falls on the 864-km Ahmedabad-Delhi main line which passes via Jaipur.So far 407 km of 864-km line has already been doubled while work is under progress on the rest of the line.
"Doubling of this track will result in faster connectivity between Delhi and Ahmedabad," a statement from the rail ministry said.Meanwhile, the Railways Minister said Gujarat had an important role to play in terms of railway traffic due to strategic location of ports like Kandla in the state."In addition to this, there is a huge demand for passenger services. Currently, there are 20 ongoing railway projects which fall partly or fully in Gujarat. This is in addition to the high-speed bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad," he said.The minister further said that in terms of railway network per 100 km of area, Gujarat has 2.66 km network as against the national average of 2.01 km.