Union Cabinet Approves Multi-Crore Railway Projects in Maharashtra & Madhya Pradesh

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved two significant multitracking railway projects in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, along with the construction of a four-lane highway between Badvel and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.

The railway projects, with a combined estimated cost of Rs 3,399 crore, involve the addition of approximately 176 km to the Indian Railways network. These include the third and fourth lines between Ratlam and Nagda, and the fourth line between Wardha and Balharshah. Spread across four districts in the two states, the projects aim to enhance line capacity, enabling faster and more efficient movement of both passengers and freight.

The upgraded railway infrastructure is expected to benefit around 784 villages with a cumulative population of nearly 19.74 lakh. The corridors are crucial for the transportation of key commodities such as coal, cement, clinker, gypsum, fly ash, containers, agricultural produce, and petroleum products. Once operational, the projects are anticipated to handle an additional freight volume of 18.40 million tonnes per annum. Moreover, they are projected to reduce oil imports by approximately 20 crore litres and cut carbon emissions by 99 crore kilograms—equivalent to the environmental impact of planting four crore trees. The construction phase is also expected to generate nearly 74 lakh human-days of employment.

In a separate decision, the Cabinet also approved the development of a 108.134 km, four-lane highway from Badvel to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh at a cost of Rs 3,653.10 crore. The project will be implemented under the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) model.

This highway corridor is strategically positioned to enhance connectivity across the Visakhapatnam-Chennai, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, and Chennai-Bengaluru industrial corridors, while also providing improved access to Krishnapatnam Port. The new route will shorten the distance to the port by approximately 34 km and reduce travel time by around one hour, thereby improving logistics efficiency, lowering fuel consumption, reducing vehicle operating costs, and significantly decreasing carbon emissions.

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