Indian Railways opened a new Rs 2,400 cr Ganga double-line bridge at Mokama, Bihar, adding two Rail lines beside the old Rajendra Pul.

The first train across was the Mahananda Express, number 15483. Services began around midnight, soon after the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Eastern Circle, inspected the bridge on 3 and 4 October and cleared it.

The checks covered the bridge and the doubled, electrified railway line linked to it.

Saraswati Chandra, Chief Public Relations Officer of East Central Railway, confirmed the opening to sources.

The new bridge sits about 50 metres towards the Patna side of Rajendra Pul, which has carried trains since 1959.

It does not replace the old bridge. Trains will keep running on both. That gives the route three railway lines in all. Here is what the project involves.

It stretches about 15.5 km in total, and its main bridge is 1.9 km long, linking Mokama and Barauni across the Ganga on 17 steel spans.

The project also includes around 3.6 km of raised rail track, along with eight smaller bridges, two road overbridges and three rail-over-rail structures, where one railway line crosses over another.

Railways designed it to need only minor changes to the approaches of the old bridge, and it joins the existing stations on both banks.

The corridor is one of the key routes connecting Delhi and Howrah. According to the railway official, traffic capacity there should rise by around 2.5 times.

Chandra said the extra capacity should make freight movement smoother and cut transport time and costs. That could help the movement of essential goods and trade in the region.

For passengers, the two new lines give Railways more room to schedule trains and keep passenger and freight services apart.

The bridge also adds another rail route between North and South Bihar, and it strengthens links towards the northeast.

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