Centre Approves Key Road, Rail Projects Worth ₹7,600 crore For Bihar

New Delhi:The Centre on Wednesday approved the construction of the four-lane greenfield access-controlled Mokama-Munger section of the Buxar-Bhagalpur high-speed corridor in Bihar at a capital cost of INR4,447.38 crore. It also cleared the doubling of the Bhagalpur-Dumka-Rampurhat single railway line section (177 km) across Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal at an estimated cost of INR3,169 crore. Information and broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had approved both projects.

The Mokama-Munger section will be built on the Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM), spanning 82.4 km and connecting key cities including Mokama, Barahiya, Lakhisarai, Jamalpur, Munger, and Bhagalpur. The Munger-Jamalpur-Bhagalpur belt is emerging as an industrial hub with ordnance factories, a locomotive workshop in Jamalpur, food-processing units such as ITC in Munger, and logistics hubs. Bhagalpur is also recognised for its textile and silk industry, while Barahiya is developing as a food packaging and agro-warehousing centre.

The corridor, designed for speeds up to 100 km/h, will cut travel time to 1.5 hours while improving safety and efficiency for both passenger and freight traffic. The project is expected to generate 14.83 lakh man-days of direct employment and 18.46 lakh man-days of indirect employment. The CCEA also approved the doubling of the Bhagalpur-Dumka-Rampurhat railway line, which will expand the Indian Railways network by 177 km.

The project is expected to ease congestion, improve operational efficiency, and enhance service reliability across one of the busiest sections of Indian Railways. The railway expansion will boost connectivity to prominent religious and tourist destinations such as Deoghar (Baba Baidyanath Dham) and Tarapith (Shakti Peeth), and benefit approximately 441 villages and 28.72 lakh people, including three Aspirational Districts, Banka, Godda, and Dumka. The government said these projects align with Prime Minister Modi's vision of building a "New India" by promoting self-reliance (Atmanirbhar Bharat) through improved connectivity, enhanced logistics efficiency, and expanded employment opportunities.

Both projects are part of the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, aimed at strengthening multi-modal connectivity through integrated planning and stakeholder collaboration.