PM Modi’s Cabinet Approves Seven New Railway Projects Worth Rs 32,500 Cr

The Cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved seven new railway projects related to new railway line and upgradation, on Wednesday, August 16.

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a briefing that the approved seven multi-tracking projects will cost around Rs 32,500 crore. It further said that this is part of the preparations to redevelop 508 railway stations across India at a cost of Rs 4,195 crore.

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The projects will be built completely in engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) mode, and will add 2,339 kilometres to the existing network of Indian Railways.

The project will receive 100% funding from the central government, covering 35 districts across Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Every project depends on the other projects and must not be looked at independently," said Vaishnaw. The projects also intend to reduce congestion and ease operations by adding freight traffic of around 200 million tonnes per annum.

"The projects will provide employment of 7.06 crore person-days to the people of the selected states," the government said in its presentation.

This project is aligned with the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, which is said to be PM Modi’s dream project. As per sources quoted, as many as 16 stations in Haryana will also be modernised at a cost of Rs 608 crore. All the stations will reflect the culture and heritage of the state.

It is to be noted that these new railway projects have been approved in election-bound states. 

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According to media reports, Vande Bharat is preparing to bring sleeper trains for longer routes and the first batch of this train will arrive next year. Recently, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) will design the sleeper variant of Vande Bharat trains by the end of December and first few trains will be ready by March 2024.

Last month, the minister also announced that all three versions of Vande Bharat, including Chair Car, Vande Metro and Vande Sleeper, will be operational by February or March of next year.