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In West Bengal, Indian Railways approved the construction of an 11-km bypass line between the Adra end and Joychandipahar at a cost of Rs 272 crore. The project comes under the South Eastern Railway zone.

According to Railways, the bypass will provide a dedicated route for freight trains and a bi-directional connection with the upcoming third line. It is expected to handle around 6.065 freight rakes per day and support the growing industrial traffic in the region.

The bypass will also support freight movement linked to SAIL’s projected iron ore requirement of 23.40 MTPA and BCCL’s expected movement of 45 rakes per day.

The Adra-Joychandipahar-Sanka bypass is expected to remove existing operational bottlenecks and reduce delays caused by surface crossings on the Adra-Joychandipahar section. With the existing railway network already operating at around 71% utilisation, the new bypass will help improve freight movement, increase operational efficiency and prevent further congestion.

In Bihar, the national transporter has approved the installation of Electronic Interlocking (EI) at 21 stations in the Samastipur Division of East Central Railway (ECR) at a total cost of Rs 233 crore.

The project involves replacing the existing Panel Interlocking systems with modern EI technology at these stations. The upgrade will strengthen the signalling infrastructure across the division and support the implementation of Kavach, the country’s indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system.

According to Railways, Electronic Interlocking is a modern computer-based signalling system that replaces older relay-based systems. It offers higher reliability, quicker fault detection, easier maintenance and greater flexibility in train operations.

The new system will modernise signalling arrangements at the identified stations and provide upgraded infrastructure to support the ongoing Kavach-related works.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Railways approved the installation of Kavach Version 4.0 on the remaining 712 Route Kilometres (Rkm) of the Moradabad Division of Northern Railway at a cost of Rs 170 crore.

The project will strengthen railway safety across the identified sections by deploying Kavach. The rollout of Kavach 4.0 will add an advanced safety layer to train operations and help improve safety across the remaining sections of the Moradabad Division.