New Delhi: The Union Government on Friday highlighted the rapid expansion of railway infrastructure, station redevelopment, and freight corridor development across the country, stating that these initiatives are significantly improving connectivity, logistics efficiency, and passenger experience while positioning Indian Railways as a major growth engine of the national economy.

Replying to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “Capacity enhancement of railway network has been taken up by Indian Railways in a big way during the last 11 years.”

The Minister informed the House that railway track commissioning has more than doubled in the past decade:

Period	New track commissioned	Average commissioning of new tracks
2009–14	7,599 km	4.2 km/day
2014–25	34,428 km	8.6 km/day (more than two times)

As on 01.04.2025, across Indian Railways, 431 railway infrastructure projects (154 New Line, 33 Gauge Conversion and 244 Doubling) of total length 35,966 km, costing approx. 6.75 lakh crore are sanctioned. The summary is as under:-

Category	No. of projects	Total length (km)	Length commissioned till Mar 2025 (km)	Expenditure till Mar 2025 (₹ crore)
New Lines	154	16,142	3,036	1,45,318
Gauge Conversion	33	4,180	2,997	22,753
Doubling/Multitracking	244	15,644	6,736	1,22,858
Total	431	35,966	12,769	2,90,929

During the last 05 years i.e. FY 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and in current FY 2025-26, 290 projects (New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling) of total length 13,176 km costing approx. Rs. 2,60,756 crore have been sanctioned across Indian Railways. Furthermore, during this period, 1,048 surveys (325 New Line, 15 Gauge Conversion & 708 Doubling) of total length 71,611 km have been sanctioned.

The Minister also stated that railway infrastructure projects enable socio-economic development of the region including:
• Better connectivity of the region with other parts of the country
• Faster movement of goods and services
• Improving logistics efficiency and reduction in transportation cost
• Enhanced line capacity
• Increase in direct and indirect employment opportunities for the people of the region
• Reduced operational bottlenecks
• Development of tourism industry and increase in industrial activities in the region

Dedicated Freight Corridors improving logistics

Vaishnaw noted that the Ministry of Railways has completed construction of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1,337 km) and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) from Dadri to Vaitarana (1,404 km), which has been commissioned. The construction of Vaitarna–JNPT (102 km) section of WDFC is in advanced stage.

He said that “Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project has a positive impact on the transportation and logistics sector as it enabled enhanced movement of Double Stack Container (DSC) trains, higher axle load trains, faster access of northern hinterland by Western Ports and development of new terminals/linkages with industries along the DFC. The Eastern DFC mostly caters to mineral traffic from Eastern India. These developments enabled reduction in logistics cost.”

Multimodal integration and future vision

According to the Minister, Indian Railways is promoting multimodal connectivity through Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals, links to multimodal logistics parks, inland container depots, ports, and industrial clusters under the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan. Major stations are also being developed as integrated transport hubs connecting rail, metro, and bus systems.

He added that the long-term vision is to increase rail’s modal share in freight and passenger transport, modernise infrastructure through technology, improve efficiency and sustainability, and function as a key growth engine of the economy.

Station redevelopment under Amrit Bharat Scheme

The government has identified 1,337 stations for redevelopment under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, with works completed at 172 stations so far.

The scheme focuses on improved access, upgraded station buildings, better waiting areas and amenities, lifts and escalators, wider foot overbridges, multimodal integration, Divyang-friendly facilities, executive lounges, landscaping, and sustainable solutions.

The Minister emphasised that station modernisation is a continuous process, subject to funding, statutory clearances, land acquisition, utility shifting, and operational constraints, all of which can influence project timelines and costs.

For 2025–26, the Railways has allocated ₹12,120 crore under Plan Head-53 (Customer Amenities), of which ₹9,660 crore had been spent by December 2025.

Concluding, Vaishnaw underlined that railway expansion, freight modernisation, and station redevelopment are collectively driving economic growth, improved logistics, and enhanced passenger services across India. DeshBharat