The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the doubling of 177-km Bhagalpur-Dumka-Rampurhat single railway line section in Bihar, Jharkhand ,and West Bengal at Rs 3,169 crore.

Bihar will go to assembly polls later this year. The committee was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The enhanced line capacity will improve mobility, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways. The multi-tracking proposal will ease operations and reduce congestion, providing the much-required infrastructural development on the busiest sections across Indian Railways," a government press note said.

It added the projects are a step towards making India self-reliant.

According to the government, the projects have been envisioned under the PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan with focus on enhancing multi-modal connectivity and logistic efficiency.

"These projects will provide seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods, and services. The project covering five Districts in three states i.e. Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 177 Kms," it said.

A section of the project also provides rail connectivity to prominent destinations, such as Deoghar (Baba Baidyanath Dham) and Tarapith (Shakti Peeth) etc.

Multi-tracking projects will enhance connectivity to about 441 villages, 28.72 lakh people, and 'aspirational districts' of Banka, Godda and Dumka, the government said.

"The capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 15 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum)," it said.

The projects will lead to reduction in oil import by 5 crore litres and lower CO2 emissions by 24 crore kg, which is equivalent to planting 1 crore trees, the government said.

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