Scheduled Castes made up 11.2% of the population; 21.2% were Scheduled Tribes. Hindus make up 81.55% of the population, Muslims make up 13.59%, and Sarnaism makes up 3.41% of the population. Christians make up 0.76% of the population. At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 56.63% of the population in the district spoke Khortha, 18.2% Hindi, 8.17% Urdu, 4.53% Santali, 2.91% Bhojpuri, 2.78% Magahi and 1.59% Bengali as their first language. Transport Rail In 1927, Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) opened the Chandil-Barkakana section to traffic. The same year, the Central India Coalfields (CIC) Railway opened the Gomoh-Barkakana line. It was extended to Daltonganj in 1929. Later it was extended to Sonnagar on Howrah-Delhi Grand Chord line and one more branch was extended to Singrauli from Garwa Road. At present the district railway network is divided between two zone East Central Railways and South Eastern Railway. Ramgarh Cantonment, Mael, Barkipona, Gola Road, Harubera, Sondimra and Barlanga Station come under Ranchi Division of SER. Ranchi Road, Chainpur, Argada, Barkakana Junction, Bhurkunda, Patratu and Tokisud station come Under Dhanbad Division of ECR. Barkakana is a railway sub-division under Dhanbad division of East Central Railway zone. Doubling of Danea-Ranchi Road line has announced in the Railway Budget 2013–14. New rail line project Ranchi-Koderma-Tilaiya Junction railway station (Bihar) new rail line project of the state passes through the district. The district portion between Sidhwar-Barkakana-Kuju and Mandu is already completed. The distance between Ranchi and Barkakana by train will be reduced by half with the new rail line. Completion of this project will also shorten the distance between Barkakana, Patna and Delhi. The Bakhtiyarpur–Rajgir line was extended to Tilaiya in 2010. After completion of the line, Barkakana will be connected to Bakhtiyarpur. Rajgir, Biharsharif, etc. Tilaiya Junction railway station is situated near Rajoli of Nawada district of Bihar, not to be confused with Tilaiya, Tilaiya Dam, or Jhumri Tilaiya of Jharkhand. The -long Barkakana-Hazaribagh section of the new Koderma-Ranchi line project was inaugurated on 7 December 2016 by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in the presence of Chief Minister Raghubar Das. Special passenger train service started on 31 March 2017 from Barkakana Junction to Sidhwar station of Barkakana–Ranchi new line section. A trial run of the passenger train between Tatisilwai and Sanki railway stations (31.4 km) on Ranchi Barkakana's new rail line was conducted on 17 January 2018. The new railway line between Tatisilwai and