East Central Railway (ECR) Construction Organisation (South) has floated a Rs 4039.74 crore tender for constructing 26-km Koderma detour section of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC).
The double line section is part of the Sonnagar-Andal 3rd and 4th line project being constructed on EPC mode ( Engineering Procurement Construction) by ECR for extending the existing EDFC from Sonnagar to Andal.
Project details
The double track will be constructed from Chainage from Ch.158.00 to Ch.184 in the Koderma Detour section.The successful bidder has to undertake construction of Viaducts, rail-over-rail (ROR)/ rail flyover (RFO), major bridges, minor bridges, animal underpasses, Road –under-bridge (RUB) / limited height subway (LHS), Tunnels, Cut and Cover, Earthwork, Blanketing, trolley refuges, turfing, buildings, retaining wall, toe wall and other associated works
Period of completion of this project as per the tender is 1600 Days. The tender closes on January 5, 2027.
Need for Koderma detour
The proposed DFC alignment will traverse on North side of existing Indian Railway (IR) track throughout the section except for Koderma -Paharpur section where detour has been proposed. The Koderma detour passes through Hazaribagh and Koderma districts of Jharkhand and Gaya district of Bihar.
Due to the technical constraints construction of DFC track along the existing IR track in between Koderma- Paharpur section is not feasible. The entire terrain is mostly plain terrain except hill portion of Chota Nagpur ranges in Koderma detour.
The existing gradients between Gurpa- Gujhandi ghat sections vary from 1 in 80 to 1 in 400 and therefore taking DFC line parallel to existing Grand Chord line with desired gradient 1 in 200 is not possible.
Hence it was proposed to go on Detour Alignment (Proposed Koderma Detour) with gradient of 1 in 200 and avoid Gurpa-Gujhandi section due to serious gradient constraints.
Four detour alignments were studied with gradient 1 in 200 and of varying lengths on either side of Koderma-Gaya section. Of these, the alignment requiring the minimum amount of forest land is being considered.
The other three detour alignments were also found not technically feasible due to serious gradient constraints on hilly terrain along the existing Grand Chord section of IR track.There is no suitable alternative land for the new construction as the forest area extends on the either side of the proposed alignment.
Hence, the diversion of 89.688 hectares of forest land is being proposed for the construction of Koderma Detour situated under Koderma Forest Division, Koderma from proposed Chainage 123.600 to Chainage 135.230 (11.630 km).The proposed alignment involves minimum displacement of people and structures and minimum acquisition of forest land.
GM inspection of Gurpa Gujhandi Ghat tunnels
In May 2026, ECR in collaboration with IIT-ISM Dhanbad, successfully completed tunnel redesign and dimensional enlargement of tunnels in the Gurpa-Gujhandi Ghat section. Subsequently, the then General Manager, ECR, Chhatrasal Singh conducted a footplate inspection of a BOBRN rake on the Gurpa-Gujhandi Ghat section on Thursday, May 7, 2026.