Cabinet Approves ₹6,456 Crore Railway Projects to Boost Connectivity and Reduce Carbon Emissions by 2028-29

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved three projects of the Ministry of Railways. Their total estimated cost is around Rs 6,456 crore. These projects have been targeted to be completed by 2028-29.

According to a PIB press release, these three projects will help in providing connectivity, easing travel, reducing logistics costs, reducing oil imports and reducing carbon emissions. Not only this, direct employment will also be generated for about 114 lakh man days during the construction of the projects.

While informing the media about the decisions of the Union Cabinet in New Delhi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that the new line proposal will provide direct connectivity and improve mobility, increasing efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways. The multi-tracking proposal will ease operations and reduce congestion, leading to much-needed infrastructure development on the busiest sections of Indian Railways.

These projects are in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of New India. These projects will make the people of the region “self-reliant” through comprehensive development in the region, thereby increasing their employment/self-employment opportunities.

Not only this, these projects are the result of PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan for Multi-Modal Connectivity, which is made possible through integrated planning and will provide seamless connectivity for the movement of people, goods and services.

The 3 (three) projects covering 7 districts of 4 states i.e. Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh will expand the existing network of Indian Railways by about 300 km.

14 new stations will be constructed with these projects, providing better connectivity to two aspirational districts Nuapada and East Singhbhum. The new line projects will provide connectivity to about 1,300 villages and about 11 lakh population. At the same time, the multi-tracking project will increase connectivity to about 1,300 villages and about 19 lakh people.

It is worth mentioning that these are essential routes for the transportation of commodities like agricultural products, fertilizers, coal, iron ore, steel, cement, limestone, etc. With the help of these projects, additional freight traffic of 45 million tonnes per annum will be possible in the coming time as a result of capacity enhancement works.

Railways are an environment-friendly and energy-efficient mode of transport. This will not only help in achieving climate goals but also reduce the country's logistics cost, reduce oil imports (10 crore liters) and reduce CO2 emissions (240 crore kg), which is equivalent to planting 9.7 crore trees.