Bhagalpur-Dumka-Rampurhat rail line to be doubled

By Arun Kumar Das

 New Delhi, Sep 10 (BVI): The Centre has decided to double the Bhagalpur–Dumka–Rampurhat single railway line section to improve mobility in Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the doubling of the 177 km doubling line involving three states with a total cost of Rs 3,169 crore to provide enhanced efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways.

The multi-tracking proposal will ease operations and reduce congestion, providing the much-required infrastructural development on the busiest sections across Indian Railways.

The project covering five Districts in three states – Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 177 Kms.

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 (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 of magnitude 15 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum). The Railways being an environment friendly and energy efficient mode of transportation, will help both in achieving climate goals and minimizing logistics cost of the country, reduce oil import (5 Crore Litres) and lower CO2 emissions (24 Crore Kg) which is equivalent to plantation of 1 (One) Crore trees. (BVI)