Cabinet approves eight new line projects across Indian Railways to provide connectivity

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved eight projects of the Ministry of Railways with a total estimated cost of Rs. 24,657 crore (approx.).

The new line proposals will provide direct connectivity and improve mobility, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways.

The projects align with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of creating a New India. This vision aims to make the people of the region self-reliant through comprehensive development, enhancing their employment and self-employment opportunities.

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The projects are the result of PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity which has been possible through integrated planning and will provide seamless connectivity for the movement of people, goods, and services.

The eight projects covering 14 Districts in Seven States i.e., Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Telangana, and West Bengal will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by 900km.

With these projects 64 New Stations will be constructed, providing enhancing connectivity to Six(6) Aspirational Districts (East Singhbum, BhadadriKothagudem, Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Rayagada), approx. 510 villages and about 40 lakh population.

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Ajanta Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage site will be connected to Indian Railway Network facilitating a large number of tourists.

These are essential routes for transportation of commodities such as agricultural products, fertilizer, coal, iron ore, steel, cement, bauxite, limestone, aluminum powder, granite, ballast, containers, etc. The capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 143 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum).

The Railways being environment-friendly and energy-efficient mode of transportation, will help both in achieving climate goals and minimizing logistics cost of the country, reduce oil import (32.20 Crore Litres) and lower CO2 emissions (0.87 MillionTonnes) which is equivalent to plantation of 3.5 crore trees.

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