Patna: The Railway Board has approved the proposal of laying another pair of railway line along the existing ones from Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) junction to Kiul via Buxar and Patna. The availability of additional pair of tracks would do away the chances of delays of trains running on the Howrah-Delhi main line.
The need for third and fourth line on 390-km stretch of DDU-Kiul section was being felt since long. However, the Railway Board has approved the proposal only recently and asked the chief administrative officer of the east central railway (ECR) to select a qualified and suitable consultancy firm to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for laying of extra lines.
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A senior officer of the ECR said that the ministry of railways had allocated ₹7.78 crore for preparation of the DPR, for which a global tender had been floated recently. “Interested consultancy firms have been told to submit their bids for the project by November 10. The selected agency will be given six months time to prepare and finalise the DPR and submit the same to the railways,” said divisional public relations officer (DPRO), Danapur railways division.
Patna-DDU section heavily loaded
The Patna-DDU section is one of the busiest railway tracks in the country. More than 100 express trains run on this sections, besides goods trains. A majority of trains running on this stretch get delayed for slight alteration of timing on trains. Movement of trains has to be restricted or regulated for maintenance of tracks. As there is no alternative tracks, running of trains on this stretch had to be held in suspension in case of any accident.
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Delays due to accidents
Recently, movement on down line of DDU-Patna section of the track was put on suspension for about 43 hours after North East express was derailed near Raghunathpur station early this month. A few rakes of a goods train had jumped off the track on October 16, which held up train traffic on the down line for more than three hours. The movement of trains on this section would not be hit much if two additional lines are in operation.
Trains can get rid of unnecessary stoppages
Officials said that the trains can avoid uncalled for halt on the tracks due to congestions. Many superfast and express trains had to stop of stations or near the signals owing to trains ahead on the same track. The superfast trains can bypass the slow-moving trains with the help of operational additional tracks.
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Tracks to facilitate running of trains at 160kmps
If the talks in the ECR offices are of any hint, the new tracks will be laid with a view to facilitating smooth running of semi-high speed trains like Vande Bharat express and other super fast trains, which can go up to the speed of 160kmph. Currently, tracks on Kiul-DDU sections are tested fit for trains running more than 130kmph.
