Cabinet clears rail projects to decongest Howrah-Chennai route, Bihar highway

The Union Cabinet approved four railway multi-tracking projects and one four-lane highway project on Wednesday at a cost of Rs 13,041 crore. The railway multi-tracking projects were approved to alleviate congestion on the heavily trafficked Howrah-Chennai high-density route. The four projects include the 173-km Kharagpur-Bhadrak (Ranital) 4th Line in West Bengal and Odisha, the 75-km Bhadrak-Haridaspur 4th Line, the 90-km Gummidipundi-Gudur 3rd and 4th Line in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and the 72-km Cuttack-Paradeep (Badabandha) 3rd and 4th line in Odisha.

Collectively, these projects will cost around Rs 9,450 crore. Additionally, the cabinet approved the development of a 4-lane brownfield Muzaffarpur-Sitamarhi-Sonbarsa Corridor (NH-22) in Bihar, valued at Rs 3,591 crore. This corridor is expected to reduce the travel time between Muzaffarpur and Sonbarsa from two hours to one hour.