Cabinet approves RS 3,169 cr railway line doubling across Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal

The Centre has approved a Rs 3,169 crore project to double the Bhagalpur-Dumka-Rampurhat railway line across Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. The 177-km upgrade will boost freight, passenger mobility, reduce congestion, and benefit over 28 lakh people across 441 villages

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved doubling of the Bhagalpur-Dumka-Rampurhat single railway line section across a stretch of 177 km in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal at a total cost of Rs 3,169 crore.

The enhanced line capacity will improve mobility, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways. The multi-tracking proposal will ease operations and reduce congestion, providing the much-needed infrastructural development on the busiest sections across Indian Railways, according to an official statement.

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The projects are in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of a ‘New India’, which will make people of the region self-reliant by way of comprehensive development in the area, which will enhance their employment opportunities.

The projects are planned in accordance with the PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan with a focus on enhancing multi-modal connectivity and logistics efficiency through integrated planning and stakeholder consultations. These projects will provide seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods, and services, the statement explained.

The project covering five districts in the three states of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 177 km. The project section also provides rail connectivity to prominent destinations such as Deoghar (Baba Baidyanath Dham), Tarapith (Shakti Peeth), etc., attracting pilgrims and tourists from across the country.

Multi-tracking projects will enhance connectivity to approximately 441 villages and about 28.72 lakh population and three Aspirational Districts of Banka, Godda and Dumka.

This is an essential route for transportation of commodities such as coal, cement, fertilizers, bricks and stones, etc. The capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic to the tune of 15 million tonnes per annum.

The railways, being an environment-friendly and energy efficient mode of transportation, will help both in achieving climate goals and minimising logistics cost of the country, reduce oil imports of around 5 crore litres and lower CO2 emissions (24 crore Kg), which is equivalent to plantation of one crore trees, the statement added.