Cabinet approves 2 rail projects covering Andhra, Telangana, Bihar with estimated cost of Rs 6,798 crore

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved two rail projects worth Rs 6,798 crore to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, ruled by NDA partner parties, including providing rail connectivity to Amaravathi.

The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the railway connectivity to Andhra Pradesh new capital city Amaravathi with the investment of Rs 2,245 crore. The project involves building a new 57-km-long line including a 3.2-km-long new bridge on the Krishna river. Upon completion of the project, this will be the longest bridge in the Indian Railway network, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told media persons here.

He added that this ambitious project will provide connectivity from Amravati to all metros including Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata. "The new rail line project Errupalem-Amaravati-Namburu traverses through NTR Vijayawada and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh and Khammam district of Telangana," a statement said.

In another major decision, the Cabinet approved the doubling of the Narkatiaganj-Raxaul-Sitamarhi-Darbhanga and Sitamarhi-Muzaffarpur section in Bihar covering 256 km.

Both these projects will mainly benefit Andhra Pradesh and Bihar in which the BJP is in alliance with the TDP and the JDU respectively.

"The doubling of Narkatiaganj-Raxaul-Sitamarhi-Darbhanga & Sitamarhi-Muzaffarpur Section will strengthen the connectivity to Nepal, Northeast India and border areas and facilitating movement of passenger trains along with goods train resulting in the socio-economic growth of the region," an official govt release said.

Besides, it added, the multi-tracking project will enhance connectivity to two aspirational districts (Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur) serving approximately 388 villages and about 9 lakh population.

According to the government, these two projects covering eight districts in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 313 km.

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