Railways to spend Rs 900 bn on optimising freight movement

The Ministry of Railways will roll out projects worth Rs 900 billion in the coming months to remove bottlenecks in the movement of freight, Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Sunday. “By now, we have identified projects worth Rs 90,000 crore, or $10 billion, to remove all potential bottlenecks in the movement of freight. Some of these are small projects, some are bigger in scale. The projects will be sanctioned in the coming months, and will help us realise the aspiration of loading 3,000 million tonnes of goods,” Vaishnaw said at the 17th Foundation Day of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCC). The minister did not go into the particulars of the new projects, which he said are being closely monitored for a rollout by Railway Board Chairman V K Tripathi. At the start of the financial year, the ministry had rolled out a Rs 1.5-trillion procurement plan to augment railway performance. “The prime minister sincerely believes that the only way to transform the Indian economy is to transform Indian Railways. This shows that the support for railways is foremost in the minds of the top leadership of this country,” the minister said. Under Mission 3000, the national transporter intends to double its cargo loading from 1,418 mt in 2021-22 to 3,000 mt by 2027. See also: NF Railway track, bridge renewal drive picks up speedRailways to rent out decommissioned coaches to running restaurants