Assam, Nagaland among six states to reap Indian Railways’ Rs 12,500 crore line expansion bonanza
The projects covering 18 districts across six states will increase the existing network of India’s lifeline by 1,020 km and create three crore man-days of employment.
New Delhi, Feb 9: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the Indian Railways six multi-line projects, including two worth Rs 4,000 crore in the Northeast, a government release said late Thursday evening.
The Northeast projects include the 7.05 km Agthori-Kamakhya with a new rail and road bridge in Assam and the 140 km Lumding-Furkating stretch in Nagaland.
The Railways has estimated the cost of the Agthori-Kamakhya project at Rs 1650.37 crore and Lumding-Furkating project at Rs 2333.84 crore.
Other stretches for doubling of lines include the 178.28 km Ajmer-Chanderiya line and the 131.27 km Jaipur-Sawai Madhopur projects in Rajasthan, the 271.97 km Luni-Samdari-Bhildi project in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and Motumari-Vishnupuram and rail over rail projects in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The announcement comes within days of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposing a whopping Rs 2.55 lakh crore for the ongoing modernisation and expansion of the world’s fifth-largest rail transporter in her Interim Budget speech on February 1.
Taking to the microblogging site X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the “Cabinet decision pertaining to the Railways sector will boost infrastructure, reduce congestion on busy routes and improve commerce as well as connectivity.”
The projects have been announced under the Prime Minister Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity through integrated planning and will provide seamless connectivity for the movement of passengers, freight and other services.
They would also help in minimising logistics costs, reducing oil imports and lowering CO2 emissions, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw added.
The Railways is looking at improving its on-time performance as well as wagon turnaround time from the resulting expansion in line capacity.
The projects will cost nearly Rs 12,343 and will be fully funded by the Central Government.
Expected to be ready by 2030, three crore man-days of employment would be created during the period.
