margao countering the charges of the anticoal brigade south western railway swr officials on wednesday said that the track doubling work from hospet to vasco was aimed at strengthening the railway network and improving connectivityswr additional general manager p k mishra told reporters via video conferencing that since emphasis was being laid for usage of environmentfriendly and nonconventional sources of energy for power generation the use of coal was gradually reducing this he said reflected in a reduction in coal transported by railways over the last few yearsin 201516 swr carried 12 million tonnes of coal which has reduced to nine million tonnes in 201920 a reduction of 25 within span of four years it was informedswr deputy general manager and chief public relations officer e vijaya said that the doubletracking project would prove to be a gamechanger for goa taking development to new heights by giving impetus to trade and enabling easier and faster passenger movementpointing out that the track doubling work will lead to improved connectivity resulting in enhanced arrival of tourists in goa vijaya said in 2019 approximately 80 lakh tourists visited goa of which around 32 lakh which is 40 travelled by train it is anticipated that domestic tourism will witness an unprecedented surge post covid to facilitate more and more tourists to visit goa railway infrastructure shall be equipped to handle more number of trainsstating that many intermediate stations along the hospetvasco route such as sanvordemcurchorem had huge untapped tourist potential vijaya said that by extending better rail connectivity to these stations the hidden potential can be unlocked giving scope to generating more places of tourist interest thereby augmenting revenue to the stateby providing connectivity from vasco and margao to towns such as collem kalay sanvordemcurchorem the local economy at these places will prosper she saidon a query whether measures were being put in place to check pollution levels enroute mishra said that the electrification of the double line track which is also underway will make the route carbon neutral leading to zero pollutionas regards concerns about environmental damage vijaya said that the second track will be laid without causing any additional impact on the ecosystem destruction of the environment will be minimised during the construction workthe vision of vibrant goa with a flourishing economy can be realised only by having a rail network that will take care of transport requirements of tomorrow efficiently she saidp k kshatriya chief project manager rail vikas nigam ltd and s k jha additional divisional railway manager of the hubballi division were also present on the occasion