Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that three major economic railway corridors will be set up to reduce congestion and logistics costs in India.
The three corridors including a corridor for energy, mineral and cement, another to enhance port connectivity and a third to decongest the high traffic density corridors will be set up, she said while presenting the interim budget.
She also said that these projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti for enabling multimodal connectivity.
“They will improve logistics efficiency and reduce costs,” the finance minister said.
The resultant de-congestion of the high traffic corridors will also help in improving the operations of passenger trains, resulting in safety and higher travel speed for passengers.
“Together with dedicated freight corridors, these three economic corridor programmes will accelerate our GDP growth and reduce logistic costs,” Sitharaman said.
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“40,000 normal rail bogies will be converted to the Vande Bharat standards to enhance safety, convenience and comfort of passengers,” she added.
Currently, Vande Bharat has 82 services across the network.
In order to provide more passenger comfort, the government is also said to commence operations of sleeper Vande Bharat train.
The train, which is currently being manufactured in Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, is expected to be operational by next year end.
Talking about Metro and NaMo Bharat trains, Sitharaman said, “We have a fast-expanding middle class and rapid urbanization is taking place. Metro rail and NaMo Bharat can be the catalyst for the required urban transformation. Expansion of these systems will be supported in large cities focusing on transit-oriented development.