Three New Economic Corridors for Railways: FM

In her Interim Budget speech delivered in the lower house of parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a substantial allocation of Rs 2.55 lakh crore for capital expenditure for the Indian Railways, along with three new railway economic corridors to reduce congestion and logistics costs in India. She also proposed that around 40,000 normal rail bogeys will be converted to Vande Bharat standards, “to enhance safety, convenience and safety of passengers.”

Energy, mineral and cement corridor

The first of the three corridors is an energy, mineral and cement corridor, which will connect the coal and iron ore mines in eastern India with the cement plants and power stations in southern India. This corridor will enable faster movement of raw materials and finished products, and reduce the dependence on road transport. The corridor will also help in reducing carbon emissions and fuel consumption.

Port connectivity corridor

The second corridor is a port connectivity corridor, which will link the major ports on the west coast of India with the hinterland markets and industrial clusters. This corridor will facilitate the export and import of goods, and improve the competitiveness of Indian products in the global market. The corridor will also support the development of coastal economic zones and maritime clusters.

High traffic density corridor

The third corridor is a high traffic density corridor, which will decongest the existing routes that carry heavy passenger and freight traffic. This corridor will improve the operational efficiency and safety of the Indian Railways, and enable higher travel speeds for passengers. The corridor will also complement the dedicated freight corridors that are being developed across the country.

Ms. Sitharaman said that these railway projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti Yojana for enabling multi-modal connectivity. These will “improve logistics efficiency and reduce costs,” she said. She also highlighted that decongestion of high traffic corridors will result in improving operations, which in turn would “result in safety and higher travel speeds for passengers.”

Ms. Sitharaman emphasised that these corridors, along with dedicated freight corridors, will “accelerate our GDP and reduce logistic costs.”

She also touched upon the aviation sector, saying that it has been “galvanized” in the past 10 years, and that the number of airports has increased to 149. In her speech, she indicated that expansion of existing and development of new airports would continue. The roll-out of air connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 schemes under Udaan scheme has been successful and Indian carriers have pro-actively placed orders for over 1,000 new aircraft, she shared.