NHAI creates World record : 100 kms of expressway laid in 100 hours

NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has added yet another feather to its illustrious cap by laying 100 kms of new expressway within 100 hours. The landmark was achieved during construction of the upcoming Ghaziabad-Aligarh Expressway in Uttar Pradesh. Union Minister ShriNitinGadkari made the announcement while sharing images of the new expressway under construction. The expressway is part of the National Highway 34 that will connectGhaziabadandAligarhthroughBulandshahr.

Nitin Gadkari attended a programme at Bulandshahr through video conference recently to celebrate the landmark achievement. Congratulating the agency, Gadkari said, “This accomplishment highlights the dedication and ingenuity of India’s road infrastructure industry.” The expressway is being constructed in partnership with Larsen and Toubro and Cube Highways, anagencybasedinSingapore.

The expressway is being constructed using Cold Central Plant Recycling (CCPR) technology that has helped NHAI to reduce carbon emission. Gadkari said, “Thisinnovativegreentechnologyinvolvesutilising90%of the milled material, which amounts to nearly 20 lakh square meters of road surface. Consequently, the consumption of virgin materials has been reduced to a mere10%.”

The Ghaziabad-Aligarh Expressway spans a total of 118 kms. Besides Ghaziabad and Aligarh, the expressway will also connect places like Dadri, Noida, Sikandrabad, BulandhshahrandKhurjainUttarPradesh.“Itservesasa criticaltraderoute,facilitatingthemovementofgoodsand contributing to regional economic development by connecting industrial areas, agricultural regions, and educationalinstitutions,”Gadkarisaidinatweet.

It took around 80,000 workers, 200 road rollers for the agency to achieve the feat in record time. The a six-lane expressway will cut down travel time between Ghaziabad andAligarhconsiderably.

Creating record of laying new highways at fast pace is not new for the NHAI. In August last year, NHAI set the Guinness World Record by successfully constructing the 75 km continuous single bituminous concrete road between Amravati and Akola on NH-53 in a record time of 105hoursand33minutes.

Number of China-Europe freight trains up 17% in first four months

BEIJING: China-Europe freight train service has witnessed solid growth in the first four months of this year, givenacontinuousriseoftransportcapacityandefficiency, datafromChinaStateRailwayGroupshowed.

A total of 5,611 China-Europe freight trains ran from January to April, a year-on-year increase of 17 percent, and about 609,000 standard containers of goods were transported, up 32 percent from a year earlier, the company said.

In April alone, the number of China-Europe freight train trips increased by 25 percent year-on-year to 1,459, and the trains carried about 160,000 standard containers,up45percentyear-on-year.

Ma Siwei, General Manager of Heze-based Shandong China Post International Logistics Co, told theGlobalTimesrecentlythatthecompanyhaswitnessed a jump of freight trains to five Central Asian countries in recentmonths.

“Almost 60 percent of my goods have been transported to Central Asian countries, which is a huge increase,” hesaid.

Freight transport is now in an upward trend, Ma said, explaining that the profit for one container has jumped to 2,000-3,000 yuan ($285-428) in the past one or two months, while that was only a few hundred yuan during the Spring Festival holidays.