Overview

• The Union Cabinet approved four railway schemes that will add about 565 km to the network across Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar and Assam.
• In Gujarat’s Kutch, a Rs 2,526-crore Deshalpar–Hajipir–Luna and Vayor–Lakhpat new line will span 145 route km (164 track km) with 13 stations, target completion in three years and benefit 866 villages and about 16 lakh people.
• Three capacity projects were cleared: Secunderabad (Sanathnagar)–Wadi third and fourth line (173 km; Rs 5,012 crore; five years), Bhagalpur–Jamalpur third line (53 km; Rs 1,156 crore; three years) and Furkating–New Tinsukia doubling (194 km; Rs 3,634 crore; four years), improving access for roughly 3,108 villages and 47.34 lakh people including Kalaburagi district.
• The government projects an additional 68 million tonnes per annum of freight capacity, strengthening movement of coal, cement, steel, containers, fertilisers, petroleum products and agricultural goods.
• Official estimates cite about 251 lakh human-days of construction employment, a reduction of roughly 56 crore litres in oil imports and a cut of about 360 crore kg of CO2 emissions.