Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced a brand-new Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) in the Union Budget 2026–27. The new corridor will connect Dankuni in West Bengal with Surat in Gujarat, creating a major freight link between eastern and western India.
The project is expected to improve how goods move across the country, especially between Gujarat’s industrial hubs and the eastern region. By shifting more cargo to freight-only railway lines, the government hopes to cut logistics costs, reduce pressure on passenger trains, and make Indian manufacturing more competitive. Legislative Assembly elections are expected to be held in West Bengal in March–April 2026.
Budget 2026: New Freight Corridor to Link Gujarat and Bengal
At present, India has two operational Dedicated Freight Corridors. The Eastern DFC runs from Ludhiana to Dankuni, while the Western DFC connects Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai.
The newly announced corridor will act as a bridge between these two routes. Once completed, it will form a continuous freight backbone running across northern and central India, making long-distance cargo movement faster and more efficient.
The announcement comes amid the government’s bigger focus on infrastructure-led growth. It ties in with the National Logistics Policy, which aims to bring down logistics costs from the current 14–16 per cent of GDP to single-digit levels.
Along with freight corridors, the government plans to operationalise 20 new national waterways in the next five years. These waterways are meant to encourage cleaner and more sustainable transport of goods.
The Budget has raised capital expenditure to Rs 12.2 lakh crore for the financial year 2026–27, making it one of the highest infrastructure allocations ever.
Cities to be linked by high-speed rail
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced plans to build seven high-speed rail corridors connecting major Indian cities. Presenting the Budget in Parliament, Sitharaman said the government wants to push cleaner and faster passenger transport. “In order to promote an environmentally-sustainable passenger system, we will develop seven high-speed rail corridors between cities as growth connectors,” she said.
According to the finance minister, the proposed high-speed corridors will connect Mumbai–Pune, Pune–Hyderabad, Hyderabad–Bengaluru, Hyderabad–Chennai, Chennai–Bengaluru, Delhi–Varanasi, and Varanasi–Siliguri.
Railways a ‘Strong Pillar of Viksit Bharat’
Reacting to the Budget, Union Minister of State for Railways V Somanna described the rail sector as key to India’s development vision. Speaking to ANI, Somanna said, “Railways is the growth engine of modern India, it is the strong pillar of Viksit Bharat. Last year, the government also allotted a good amount to the railways. PM Modi aims to focus on every sector. This will be an extraordinary Budget.”
Raj Basu, who serves as Rural Tourism Advisor to Arunachal Pradesh, Tourism Advisor to Sikkim, and Chairman of Ecotourism in West Bengal’s Tourism Department, welcomed the Centre’s focus on urban tourism and connectivity projects. Pointing to Siliguri as an example, Basu said visible changes were already underway. “If we look at Siliguri itself, we will see the way Bagdogra Airport is being upgraded. We are seeing the road network that is coming up. We are seeing the New Jalpaiguri railway line under construction,” he said.