Jamalpur (Bihar), May 23 (PTI) Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday laid the foundation stone for a project to increase the wagon periodical overhauling (POH) capacity at the Jamalpur railway workshop in Bihar's Munger district and also interacted with the employees.

He was accompanied by Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan', Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and other senior railway officials.

In a statement issued after the event, the Ministry of Railways said, "The Union railway minister laid the foundation stone for the project, worth Rs 78.96 crore, of Wagon POH capacity augmentation at Jamalpur Workshop." With the laying of the foundation stone for the project for wagon POH augmentation from 545 to 800 wagons per month at the Jamalpur Locomotive workshop, the wagon overhauling capacity will be increased by over 255 units per month.

"This will increase the availability of wagons and improve in operation," it said.

On his arrival at the Jamalpur railway workshop, the railway minister visited different sections like wagon manufacturing and crane units and interacted with railway officials.

"At the wagon manufacturing section, the railway minister inspected manufacturing of BOXN Wagons, DLCS wagons and brake vans having provision of toilets manufactured at Jamalpur Workshop. At the crane section, he inspected a newly manufactured 140-tonne crane, an 8-wheeler tower car and Jamalpur Jack which are the icons of this Workshop.

While at the Workshop, the railway minister got a warm welcome by the staff of the Jamalpur Workshop," it said.

Later, he visited the Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE) at Jamalpur and addressed the gathering.

He released a booklet depicting Welding, Pneumatics, Hydraulics & Mechatronics. The book contains the action on these four subjects to develop the infrastructure, and training facility at this prestigious training centre for engineers at IRIMEE, Jamalpur. This endeavour contains an investment plan of Rs 350 crore for the development of the whole area.

"The targets for manufacturing of wagons, cranes and Jamalpur Jaci have continuously been increased in workload and at the same time infrastructure has also been augmented. But Our government is aiming for a paradigm shift in the scenario. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji, the development of Bihar reflects the giant leap in budgetary allocation for Railways in Bihar of about Rs 1,000 crore to the present day Rs 10,000 crore," the release quoted the minister as saying.

Moreover, there are many others in the anvil for the development of Bihar like redevelopment of 98 stations and other Railway projects worth Rs 1,00,000 crore. A total 1,832 km of new track has been laid in Bihar and 34,000 km of Railway track laid all over India in the last 10 year, the minister said.

Electrification has been completed over 50,000 km. Electrification of railways has also reduced the dependence on oil imports, he said.

He expressed that all these endeavours will bring a prosperous socio-economic condition for Bihar.

He said portals of IRIMEE will be opened for common students by the 2026 academic session, and the Vice Chancellor of Gati Shakti University will visit Jamalpur in this regard soon.

Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary in a statement said, "There were several railway projects concerning Bihar that were also approved in the presence of the Union Railway Minister." "These include the construction of six-lane Greenfield Expressway from Gorakhpur to Siliguri in Bihar, four-lane paved shoulder of Orchha Bypass, Connectivity of NH-44 and NH-39 in Madhya Pradesh, four laning of Masrakh to Chakia and Chakia to Bithamore section of Ram Janki Marg in Bihar,” Choudhary's statement said.

The Ram Janki Marg corridor is a significant infrastructure project that starts from Chhawani (Basti) in Uttar Pradesh and passes through districts like Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, and Deoria, eventually reaching Mehrauna Ghat at the UP/Bihar border. From there, it continues through various districts in Bihar, including Siwan, Masrakh, Kesariya, Chakia, Sheohar, and Sitamarhi, finally terminating at Bhithamore on the Bihar/Nepal border, Choudhary said.

The total length of the corridor is approximately 185.500 km in Uttar Pradesh and 250.90 km in Bihar. The development of this corridor to four-lane standards is part of the Prime Minister's Package (Roads)-2015 for Bihar, which aims to enhance connectivity to important places of religious significance in the region, the deputy chief minister said.

Vaishnaw, who arrived in the state capital on Thursday night, boarded a special train from Patna Junction to Jamalpur on Friday morning.

During the journey, he conducted a window-trailing inspection of railway infrastructure along the Patna Mokama Begusarai Munger Bridge Jamalpur route.

The railway minister returned to Patna in the evening and met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at his official residence before leaving for New Delhi. PTI COR PKD SBN SBN