A light engine rolled across the rail-cum-road bridge across the Ganga in the district on Sunday, sparking hopes that it would open in the next two months.

The project, after completion, would bring Munger on the railway mapand also reduce its distance from places such as Begusarai to a great extent.

Travelling to Begusarai from Munger is a time consuming affair. One has to go by road from the district to Mokama and then take National Highway 30 to reach Begusarai. The journey takes about 6 hours. With Mokama on the map, the journey will be reduced to half-an-hour.

The 19km trial run, including 3.23 km of the bridge, was organised to test the tracks.

The chief engineer of East Central Railway (Hajipur), Anil Kumar Dubey, was present during the trial run.

Thousands of Munger and Jamalpur residents greeted the senior railway officials at Munger railway station to mark the event.

Dubey said the trial run had gone smoothly and this would pave the way for the opening of the bridge. The rail track will be available to the public after two months as work is yet to be completed.

The project was taken up by the Centre in 1998 after a prolonged struggle by residents.

The initial cost of the project was Rs 921 crore. It was to be completed by 2009 but the date was changed several times.

"The cost of the project has gone up to Rs 2,774 crore. The bridge will connect Jamalpur railway junction on the Sahebganj-Bhagalpur section to Sahebpur Kamal Junction on the Barauni-Katihar section of the East Central Railway," said Subodh Kumar, deputy general manager of East Central Railway (Hajipur).

One has to travel 139km to reach Jamalpur (in Munger) from Khagaria but the new bridge will reduce the distance to 28km.Besides, the district headquarters of Munger will be easily accessible.