Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the historic Kosi Rail Mahasetu to the Nation and inaugurated new Rail Lines and Electrification Projects in Bihar for the benefit of passengers through video conference. He said a new history has been created in the field of rail connectivity in Bihar. Projects worth about Rs 3,000 crore like inauguration of Kosi Mahasetu and Kiul Bridge, electrification projects, promotion of Make in India in Railways and a dozen of new job creating projects are launched today. These projects will not only strengthen Bihar’s rail network but also strengthen West Bengal and Eastern India’s rail connectivity.
PM congratulated the people of Bihar for the new and modern facilities which would benefit the railway passengers of Eastern India including Bihar. Many parts of Bihar are cut off from each other due to many rivers crisscrossing the state and people have to perform long journeys due to this. Four years ago, construction of two Mahasetu was started in Patna and in Munger, to solve this problem. Now due to the commissioning of these two rail bridges, the travel between North and South Bihar has eased and this has initiated a new momentum for development especially in North Bihar.
He said a severe earthquake which occurred eight and a half decades ago isolated the Mithila and Kosi region and it is a coincidence that both the regions are being interlinked in the midst of a pandemic like Corona. Today the Supaul-Asanpur-Kupha rail route is dedicated to the nation due to the hard work of the migrant labourers who were also involved in the construction of the bridge. He said this new Kosi rail line was envisaged in 2003 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the PM and Nitish Kumar was the Railway Minister, to overcome the problems of the people of Mithila and Kosi region. This project was fast paced during the present Government and work has been completed on Supaul-Asanpur Kupaha route using modern technology.
Prime Minister said a new rail service commencing between Supaul-Asanpur via Kosi Mahasetu will greatly benefit the people of Supaul, Araria and Saharsa districts. This would also make an alternative rail route to the people of the North East. With this Mahasetu a journey of 300 km is reduced to 22 km and will also promote business and employment in this entire region. This would save both time and money of the people of Bihar. A new rail route on Kiul River with the electronic interlocking facility trains will be able to run at the speed of 125 kilometers per hour on this entire route. Electronic interlocking will ease the movement of trains on the main line from Howrah-Delhi and will provide relief to unnecessary delays and travel would be safer.
To promote Make in India, Electric loco factory has been set up in Madhepura and Diesel loco factory in Marhaura. In both these projects, almost Rs 44,000 crore have been invested. People of Bihar would be proud that the most powerful electric locomotive in India – 12,000 horsepower locomotives are manufactured in Bihar. Bihar’s first loco shed has also started functioning which would maintain electric locomotives. In Bihar over the period of last 6 years, more than 3,000 kilometers of railways have been electrified. Only about 325 km of new rail lines were commissioned in Bihar in the 5 years before 2014 whereas about 700 km of new rail lines were commissioned in Bihar in the 5 years after 2014 which is almost double the distance constructed earlier. Another 1,000 km of new rail lines are under construction.
