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High-speed 5G services will be rolled out in a few big cities of Odisha by March 2023, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said here on Sunday.

Speaking to media persons here, Vaishnaw said the 5G services will be rolled out in about 200 cities of India under the first phase. In this phase, few major cities of Odisha will also be connected with 5G network by the end of March 2023, he said.

By the end of 2023, under phase-II, around 80 per cent of the state will be covered under the high-speed Internet service, he informed.

All the big cities will be covered in phase-1 and the service will be subsequently extended to semi-urban areas and then, rural areas across the country, said Vaishanw.

On development of Bhubaneswar Railway Station to a world class station, Vaishnaw, who is also the Railway Minister, said he has requested his elder brother and education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to perform the Bhumi Puja. After that physical work will begin for the mega project, he informed.

Vaishanw also inaugurated India's first Aluminum freight rake - 61 (BOBRNALHSM1) at Bhubaneswar Railway Station on Sunday. The rake's destination is Bilaspur.

The minister said in the coming days, the light weight technology will also be used in the making of passenger trains. It will reduce carbon footprint as lower consumption of fuel in empty direction and more transport of freight in loaded condition, he added. A single rake can save over 14,500 tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime.

This is a dedicated effort for Make in India programme as it has been fully designed and developed indigenously in collaboration with Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Hindalco and Besco Wagon, sources said.

It is fully lockbolted construction with no welding on superstructure. The tare is 3.25 tons lower than normal steel rakes, 180 ton extra carrying capacity resulting in higher throughput per wagon, they said.