The government on Thursday approved four multitracking projects of Indian Railways at a total cost of ₹11,169 crore. Spanning 13 districts across six states, the projects will add approximately 574 km to the existing rail network. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared the proposals to enhance passenger services and increase freight capacity.
With the additional capacity on these routes, Indian Railways is expected to carry an extra 95.91 million tonnes (MT) of freight annually. In FY25, the Railways’ freight loading stood at 1,617.38 MT, a 1.68% increase over the previous financial year. The projects will also improve connectivity for around 2,309 villages, with a combined population of 4.36 million.
Details on the projects that are approved
Among the approved projects is the development of an additional rail line between Itarsi and Nagpur at a cost of ₹5,451 crore. This section forms part of the high-density Delhi–Chennai corridor, and the addition of a fourth line is expected to speed up and streamline both passenger and freight traffic.
Another project, involving additional lines between Dangoaposi and Jaroli, will facilitate the transport of iron ore to steel production units. According to the Ministry of Railways, this route will play a key role in achieving the country’s annual steel production target of 300 million tonnes. Collectively, the four projects are expected to result in logistics cost savings of ₹11,509 crore.
“These are essential routes for the transportation of commodities such as coal, cement, clinker, gypsum, fly ash, containers, agricultural commodities, and petroleum products. The increased line capacity will significantly enhance mobility, resulting in improved operational efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways. These multi-tracking proposals are poised to streamline operations and alleviate congestion,” an official statement said.
Projects are in line up with PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan
The projects are aligned with the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, launched in October 2021, which aims to provide multimodal connectivity to various economic zones. The scheme brings together 16 ministries for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure initiatives.
This is the sixth railway-specific project cleared by the CCEA since last August. Earlier approvals included the addition of new lines and doubling of existing ones. In the third term of the NDA government alone, 31 railway projects worth ₹1.07 lakh crore have been announced so far.