Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation and laid the foundation stone of various development projects worth over ₹1.06 lakh crore from Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Tuesday.
The projects encompass multiple sectors, including railway infrastructure, connectivity and petrochemicals.
Of these, projects worth around ₹85,000 crore are dedicated to railways. He also flagged off 10 new Vande Bharat trains from Ahmedabad to Mumbai Central, Secunderabad to Visakhapatnam, Mysuru to Dr. MGR Central (Chennai), Patna to Lucknow, New Jalpaiguri to Patna, Puri to Visakhapatnam, Lucknow to Dehradun, Kalaburagi to Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal Bengaluru, Ranchi to Varanasi and Khajuraho to Delhi (Nizamuddin).
Trains extended
Additionally four Vande Bharat trains are being extended. The Ahmedabad-Jamnagar Vande Bharat is being extended till Dwarka, Ajmer-Delhi Sarai Rohilla Vande Bharat is being extended till Chandigarh, Gorakhpur-Lucknow Vande Bharat is being extended till Prayagraj and Thiruvananthapuram-Kasargod train is being extended till Mangaluru. Two new passenger trains have been introduced between Asansol and Hatia as well as Tirupati and Kollam stations.
Also Read | PM Modi inaugurates Mahatma Gandhi Sabarmati Ashram redevelopment project worth ₹1,200 crore
Apart from issues of lack of punctuality, cleanliness and general amenities, Mr. Modi said that before 2014, six capitals of the Northeast did not have railway connectivity. There were more than 10,000 unmanned railway crossings, and only 35 per cent of railway lines were electrified. “In the 75 days of 2024, projects worth more than ₹11 lakh crore have been inaugurated or foundation stones laid, while projects worth ₹7 lakh crore have been unveiled in the last 10 to12 days,” the Prime Minister remarked at the function held at the Dedicated Freight Corridor’s Operation Control Centre.
Referring to the incremental approach of the Railway Budgets before 2014, the Prime Minister talked about the inclusion of the Railway Budget in the general Budget that made it possible to provide railway expenditure from the general Budget.
He said most of the States had got Vande Bharat trains, which now touched 250 districts.
Mr. Modi said that under the Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal Policy, construction of cargo terminals had increased as land leasing policy had been simplified and made online, leading to transparency.
About 600 km of freight corridor had been inaugurated, apart from the Operation Control Centre in Ahmedabad. Due to the efforts of the government, the speed of goods trains on this corridor had now more than doubled, he said.
Mr. Modi laid the foundation stone of railway workshops, loco sheds, pit lines and coaching depots, Phaltan-Baramati new line and electric traction system upgradation work. He also dedicated to the nation two new sections of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) – New Khurja-Sahnewal (401 route km) of the Eastern DFC and New Makarpura-New Gholvad section (244 route km) of the Western DFC.
The Prime Minister also flagged off freight trains on the DFC from various locations – New Khurja Junction, Sahnewal, New Rewari, New Kishangarh, New Gholvad, and New Makarpura.
