Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the doubling of the 104-km Bakhtiyarpur-Rajgir-Tilaiya single railway line section in poll-bound Bihar with a total cost of about Rs 2,192 crore.
Announcing the decision here on Wednesday, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the project will cover four districts of Bihar while increasing the existing network of Indian Railways by about 104 km.
Assembly elections will be held in Bihar later this year.
Vaishnaw said that the doubling will also provide rail connectivity to prominent destinations such as Rajgir (Shanti Stupa), Nalanda, Pawapuri and the like, attracting pilgrims and tourists from across the country.
“Multi-tracking projects will enhance connectivity to approximately 1,434 villages and about 13.46 lakh population, and two aspirational districts (Gaya and Nawada),” a government press statement said.
This is an essential route for transportation of commodities such as coal, cement, clinker, fly ash and the like, the statement said, adding that the capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 26 MTPA (million tonnes per annum).
Outlining its environmental benefits, it said, “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, reducing oil import (5 crore litres) and lowering CO2 emissions (24 crore kg), which is equivalent to plantation of one crore trees.” The statement further said the enhanced line capacity will improve mobility, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability for the Indian Railways.
The government note highlighted the boost to infrastructure with this announcement and said, “The multi-tracking proposal will ease operations and reduce congestion, providing the much-needed infrastructural development on the busiest sections across Indian Railways.” “The projects are in line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of a New India which will make people of the region ‘Atmanirbhar’ by way of comprehensive development in the area which will enhance their employment/ self-employment opportunities,” it added.
The projects are planned on the PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan with a focus on enhancing multi-modal connectivity and logistic efficiency through integrated planning and stakeholder consultations, railway officials said.
They added that these projects will provide seamless connectivity for the movement of people, goods and services.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
