Indian Railways has approved three major infrastructure and technology projects worth ₹1,131 crore, covering line doubling in Bihar, modern signalling on Eastern Railway routes and optical fibre expansion across South Eastern Railway.
The approvals were announced by the Ministry of Railways on Tuesday, 30 June, and include a ₹499 crore doubling project on the Mansi-Saharsa section of East Central Railway, a ₹432 crore electronic interlocking project in Asansol Division of Eastern Railway, and a ₹200 crore optical fibre cable project across South Eastern Railway.
The largest of the three approvals is the 44.40 km Mansi-Saharsa doubling project in Bihar.
The section is part of the Mansi-Saraigarh route and is currently a single-line corridor handling heavy passenger and freight traffic.
According to the ministry, the corridor operates 24 pairs of passenger trains in each direction and also supports the movement of essential commodities, including wheat, maize, ballast, boiled rice, cement, fertilisers, rice, salt, sand, stone and sugar.
The ministry said line capacity utilisation on the section has already reached 108.11% and is projected to rise to 119.34% by 2028-29.
The doubling project has been approved to ease congestion, increase line capacity and improve operational efficiency on the route.
After commissioning, the Mansi-Saharsa doubling project is expected to help handle an additional 1.764 million tonnes per annum of freight traffic.
The ministry said the project will support smoother movement of passenger and freight trains, improve punctuality and reduce operational bottlenecks.
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In a separate approval, Indian Railways has sanctioned a ₹432 crore project to replace relay-based interlocking with electronic interlocking at 27 stations and cabins, including one intermediate block signalling location, on high-density and highly utilised routes of Asansol Division in Eastern Railway.
The sanctioned work includes replacement of 28 relay-based interlocking installations, comprising 27 panel or route relay interlocking systems and one intermediate block signalling installation.
Electronic interlocking is a computer-based signalling system that replaces older relay-based systems.
The ministry said the project will improve safety, reliability, fault diagnosis, maintenance and operational flexibility.
The signalling upgrade is part of Indian Railways’ wider programme to provide electronic interlocking on high-density and highly utilised routes where advanced systems such as Kavach, automatic block signalling and centralised traffic control are being implemented.
The third approval is a ₹200 crore optical fibre cable project across South Eastern Railway.
The project will provide balance 48-fibre optical fibre cable connectivity over 1,696.2 route kilometres across four divisions.
The sanctioned work covers 545.4 route km in Adra Division, 392.3 route km in Chakradharpur Division, 339.9 route km in Kharagpur Division and 418.6 route km in Ranchi Division.
The ministry said the upgraded fibre network will strengthen railway communication systems, support faster transmission of operational data and improve coordination between stations, control offices and field units.
The optical fibre project is also expected to support modern railway technologies and future capacity expansion across the South Eastern Railway network.
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