Cabinet clears ₹24,634 crore railway expansion across four states

The four approved sections include the Wardha-Bhusawal third and fourth line ( ₹9,197 crore) in Maharashtra, the Gondia-Dongargarh fourth line ( ₹2,223 crore) spanning Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, the Vadodara-Ratlam third and fourth line ( ₹8,885 crore) across Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, and the Itarsi-Bhopal-Bina fourth line ( ₹4,329 crore) in Madhya Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, on X, that the projects “will benefit thousands of villages, strengthen rail connectivity, ease congestion and enhance logistics efficiency under PM Gati Shakti. Other benefits include enhanced passenger convenience, freight movement and job opportunities for people.”

The projects are part of the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, which is the government’s infrastructure plan to make transportation and logistics in India faster, cheaper, and more efficient. In total, the projects will cover 18 districts and benefit about 3,600 villages with a combined population of roughly 8.5 million people, including two aspirational districts, namely Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh.

“We have seven corridors which carry about 41% of the total railway traffic in India,” explained Railway, IT and I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during the cabinet briefing. “These are Delhi to Kolkata, Kolkata to Chennai, Chennai to Mumbai, and Mumbai to Delhi. These make the golden quadrilateral. Then two diagonal corridors from Delhi to Chennai and Mumbai to Kolkata, and one from Delhi to Guwahati. The four projects announced today will upgrade these corridors to a minimum of four lanes. We will expand to six lanes wherever required.”

The increased capacity is expected to carry an additional 78 million tonnes of freight per year. Officials said the upgraded routes will also improve access to several important tourist and heritage destinations, including Sanchi, the Bhimbetka rock shelters, Satpura Tiger Reserve, Hazara Falls, and Nawegaon National Park. In addition to passenger benefits, the routes serve as crucial corridors for transporting coal, cement, steel, food grains, and containers.

According to government estimates, the capacity enhancement will also bring significant environmental gains. The projects are expected to reduce oil imports by around 28 crore litres and lower carbon emissions by nearly 139 crore kilograms, which is the equivalent of planting six crore trees.