The Ministry of Railways has approved two rail infrastructure projects to strengthen connectivity and ease congestion on critical routes. The projects have a combined sanctioned cost of Rs 6475.8 mn and aim to ensure safe and uninterrupted movement of trains. The approvals cover works in Western Railway and Eastern Railway and reflect continued prioritisation of capacity augmentation and network decongestion.

One project is the construction of a rail over rail flyover at Kosamba to integrate the Kosamba–Umrapada gauge conversion section. The flyover will span nine point two kilometre (km) and will remove surface crossings created by the Dedicated Freight Corridor alignment, enabling seamless linkage with the Mumbai–Vadodara main line. The sanctioned completion cost for this work is Rs 3443.8 mn and it will support the benefits of the gauge conversion by preventing operational interruptions.

The other project is the Bhagalpur bypass, a new link of 13.38 km that will connect Gonudham Halt on the Barahat–Bhagalpur section with Sabour on the Bhagalpur–Sahibganj section. The bypass has been sanctioned at Rs 3032.0 mn and is intended to ease severe congestion at Bhagalpur junction, where the Barahat–Bhagalpur section currently operates at more than 125 per cent capacity utilisation. The new alignment will eliminate engine reversals at Bhagalpur that result in detention and inefficiencies.

Together the projects are expected to enhance operational fluidity and punctuality, reduce congestion and improve safety for passenger and freight services. Implementation will enable more efficient train movements on the Mumbai–Vadodara corridor and in the Bhagalpur area without creating surface conflicts with freight corridors. The Ministry has signalled that such investments form part of a sustained effort to meet growing transportation demand and to improve overall network performance.