PATNA, Dec. 15 -- British-era Jhajha railway station is one of the major stoppages for trains on the Howrah-Delhi rail section, located at the tail end of Danapur division. To ease congestion and increase efficiency of train movements, now a third and fourth line between Jhajha and Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) stations are likely to get operational by early next year. The land acquisition for Jhajha-Kiul section was already in progress and now the process of land acquisition for extension of the third and fourth line of Jhajha-DDU section had been started, officials said. The possibility of stoppage and maintenance work of several trains of Danapur division will also increase here, as sufficient land is available with the railways at Jhajha. As part of the steps being taken to facilitate rail services and increase the movement of seamless freight trains, East Central Railway is working expeditiously on the expansion of infrastructure. The construction of about 400 km third and fourth line from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction to Jhajha via Patna is part of this ambitious project. This work will begin from March 2026 while Railway Board has approved about Rs.17,000 crore for this project. In the first phase, Bakhtiyarpur-Fatuha (24 km) will be constructed, including acquisition of 6.6 -hectare land, and Bakhtiyarpur-Punarkh (30 km) sections along with the acquisition of one hectare land, which have been approved by the Board. The approval process for parts estimated at Rs.2,514 crore for Punarkh-Kiul and Rs.903 crore for Kiul-Jhajha is in the final stage. With the extension of the third-fourth line on the Jhajha-Kiul section, many of the small railway station buildings on this section are likely to be demolished/upgraded. The responsibility of land acquisition has been given to a private company, which has started the work. In view of the shortage of land around Patna during the construction of the third and fourth lines, the two stabling lines between Danapur and Patna will be removed and the third and fourth lines will be built in its place. Chief public relations officer of East Central Railways, Saraswati Chandra told HT, DDU-Jhajha route via Patna was originally built between 1860 and 1870. After that, it was doubled. Since then, the number of freight and passenger trains continued to increase, as a result of which, trains were operational many times more than the capacity of the tracks. It was difficult in the track maintenance and timing/punctuality of the trains. "Over 290 trains run per day on this section, putting pressure on the double line. Increasing capacity of the tracks was necessary. So, Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, third and fourth lines are being constructed for train operations, which will also pave the way for additional train operations. After the completion train speed and punctuality will improve," added Chandra....