8 railway multi-tracking projects worth Rs 20,804 crore approved

NEW DELHI: Govt on Wednesday approved eight railway multi-tracking projects worth Rs 20,804 crore as part of a big push for faster movement of passengers and goods across its high-density networks.PM Narendra Modi said that these projects will “ensure stronger connectivity, faster passenger movement and lower logistics cost”.Announcing the decisions, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the multi-tracking projects — doubling and the laying of third and fourth lines — spanning 14 districts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh; and 17 districts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana will increase the capacity of the eight lines for running passenger and freight trains. On completion of these projects by 2029-30, the railway network will increase by 1,196 km. This is also estimated to increase freight loading by 74 million tonnes per annum.Govt said the projects are for key routes for movement of coal, cement, iron and steel, containers, automobiles, foodgrains, petroleum products and fertiliser. In a post on X, Modi said the three multitracking projects across Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal will also “encourage tourism, especially heritage and wildlife related tourism”, besides lowering logistics costs.

Vaishnaw said that in the past 12 years, there has been a complete transformation of railways. The national transporter has gone for modern designs to minimise land acquisition. He added that aerial mapping and artificial intelligence–backed monitoring is helping get the actual status of land parcels. The minister also said that land related pre-investment activities are now being started before project sanction.

50% Budget Spent by Sept: Vaishnaw

Vaishnaw said 50% of the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for Indian Railways for 2026-27 has been spent till the first week of Sept. Railways have got allocation of Rs 2.8 lakh crore as GBS in FY27.