Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is not only trying to keep his vote bank intact but also his colleague P Chidambaram?s. Prasad is expected to announce at least 16 gauge conversion projects, nine in Bihar alone, in the 2008-09 Railway Budget. Apart from this, three new railway tracks will be laid down in his and Chidambaram?s home states next fiscal.

This is well in line with the railway ministry?s policy of converting all metre gauge lines into broad gauge. For 2007-08, it has fixed a target of about 1,800 km of gauge conversion consisting of

17 lines.

In fact Prasad is not leaving his political rival Nitish Kumar behind. The gauge-conversion process is expected to be done in the 137-km stretch between Nawada (the place closest to Kumar?s home town) and Lakshmipur.

Bihar is expected to get at least two new railway next year. One track will be laid down on the 97-km stretch between Gaya and Chatra in Jharkhand via Bodhgaya and while the other will connect Kursela and Bihariganj via Rupauli covering a stretch of 57 km.

Another new rail track will be constructed from Chennai-Perungudi to Cuddalore via Mahabalipurm.

Gauge conversion work will also be taken up on the metre gauge tracks of 255 km between Kuddapa and Bangalore via Madnapalli at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore.

The eight gauge conversion projects proposed for in Bihar include tracks between Muzaffarpur and Janapur Road (66 km), Supael-Araria (92 km), Sitamarhi-Nirmali (188 km), Muzaffarpur-Darbhanga (67 km), Ara-Bhabua Road (122 km), Dehri-on-Son-Banjari (36 km), Gaya-Daltanganj (137 km) and Kisangarh-Jalalgarh (50 km).

Change of tracks from metre gauge to broad gauge not only makes the journey faster, but also accommodates more passengers as the compartments on latter are more spacious. It also cuts down on costs arising due to changing of trains.

Gauge alteration work would also be undertaken between Bhanupali-Bilaspur-Beri (63 km) at a cost of Rs 1,046 crore, Agartala-Sabrum (110 km) at Rs 150 crore and Champa-Jharseguda (165 km) with an investment of Rs 872 crore.

Infact during the 11th Plan period, the Railways also plans to finish the long-pending Project Unigauge, which aims at converting about 15,716 km of metre and narrow gauge lines into broad gauge. This is also one of the reasons for its higher plan spend of about Rs 2.5 lakh crore for this five year period.