Railway unveils Rs.20 lakh-cr high-speed plan

The Railway ministry is currently drawing up an ambitious Rs.20 lakh crore investment plan for converting 10,000 km trunk routes into high-speed corridors and take up several other modernization projects. The investment plan will be spread out over a period of 10 years, with average annual capacity upgrade and expansion outlay of Rs.2 lakh crore, said official sources. Since there has hardly been technology development in railways in past 3-4 decades, the ministry is looking at leapfrogging to new technologies, and considering huge investments in the sector which remained neglected in the past few decades. Half of the total allocation — about Rs.10 lakh crore — will go towards speeding up train travel. Under the plan, railways would upgrade existing Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Howrah, and Bengaluru-Hyderabad routes, among others, into high-speed corridors, and upgrade stations on the routes into world class terminals. Railways would also complete the 3300-km long dedicated corridor project for freight movement that will free up existing routes to run more premium passenger trains and increase average speed, they added.