Bihar gets allocation of Rs 3171 crore in rail budget

Bihar has got Rs 3,171 crore allocation for new and ongoing projects in the Railway budget 2016-17 that includes a new rail bridge over the Ganga in the state.
"Bihar has got an allocation of Rs 3,171 crore for new and ongoing projects in this year's Rail budget. This is an increase of 29 per cent from Rs 2489 crore in 2015-16," East Central Railway (ECR) General Manager A K Mittal told reporters here.
Giving details of the salient features of the rail budget for ECR zone, Mittal said the budget has proposed 18 km long new rail line of Vikramshila-Kataria which will have a rail bridge over river Ganga between Pirpainty-Naugachhia, both fall in Bhagalpur district.

The 18 km long new rail line with a bridge would be built at an estimated cost of 1601 crore, Mittal said adding that Rs 2 lakh has been allocated for initiating the process, such as preparing estimate etc, in the Railway budget 2016-17.
This would be the third railway bridge over river Ganga after rail-cum-road bridge of Digha-Sonepur and Munger.
Altogether 25 railway over bridges (ROBs) and four sub ways would be built in the ECR as per the budget, GM said.

The budget has earmarked Rs 867 crore for laying new rail lines, Rs 185 crore doubling of tracks, Rs 150 crore for guage conversion, Rs 50.33 crore for improving passengers' amenities, he said.

Outlinging achievements of ECR zone in 2015-16, Mittal said that Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge was inauguarted on February 3, 2016 while Munger rail-cum-road bridge in Munger is expected to be thrown open for public by the end of March this year. Engine trial run has already been completed on the bridge on December 27, 2015, he added.
A new junction at Patliputra started functioning in Patna on December 16, 2015, he said adding that five pairs of express and six pairs of passengers trains are running from the station.
ECR has earned a total income of Rs 11446 crore from both passenger and freight, the GM said.

(REOPENS ERG12)
In reply to a question whether three select train
services -Humsafar, Tejas and UDAY- would be launched in Bihar, East Central Railway (ECR) GM A K Mittal said "these trains would also be started from Bihar in due course."
Humsafar would be a fully air-conditioned third AC service with an optional service for meals, while Tejas would run at a speed of 130 kmph and above and would offer onboard services such as entertainment, local cuisine and wi-fi through service providers.