Cabinet Approves Four Railway and Road Projects Worth ₹11,944 Crore Under PM GatiShakti
The Union Cabinet, through the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), approved four railway and road infrastructure projects with a combined cost of ₹11,944 crore.
The railway projects include multitracking works — adding a fourth or additional lines to existing heavily trafficked rail corridors, expanding network capacity without acquiring new land.
Road projects approved include rehabilitation and upgrading of National Highway sections, including the Ghoti-Trimbakeshwar-Jawhar-Manor-Palghar section of NH-160A in Maharashtra (approximately ₹3,320 crore).
Projects are aligned with the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, connecting economic nodes, logistics nodes, and social infrastructure nodes.
The approvals reflect India's sustained thrust on infrastructure investment as a growth multiplier — railway and road expansion featured prominently in Union Budget 2024-25 with a capital expenditure allocation of ₹11.11 lakh crore.
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)
The CCEA is one of the Cabinet Committees of the Union Government, the highest decision-making body for major economic and infrastructure proposals that cross a financial threshold or have significant policy implications.
The ₹11,944 crore railway and road approval is a CCEA decision — standard for large infrastructure investments. Understanding CCEA composition and mandate is a direct Prelims MCQ topic.
PM GatiShakti National Master Plan
PM GatiShakti is a digital infrastructure planning and coordination platform launched in October 2021 to bring integrated, multi-modal infrastructure planning under a single GIS-based dashboard.
Cabinet approvals for railway and road projects are now explicitly described as "aligned with PM GatiShakti" — meaning they have been evaluated against the integrated infrastructure map, connecting multiple economic and logistics nodes. This is the operative planning logic behind all major infrastructure investment decisions.
Indian Railways: Capacity Expansion and Multitracking
Indian Railways is the world's fourth largest rail network (over 67,000 km) and is undergoing its most ambitious capacity expansion since independence through dedicated freight corridors, station redevelopment, and multitracking of saturated routes.
The Cabinet approval for multitracking projects directly increases the throughput capacity of India's rail network — enabling both more freight and more passenger movement on the same physical corridors. Each km of multitracking unlocks compounding benefits across the GatiShakti-connected logistics ecosystem.
- Total value: ₹11,944 crore across 4 railway and road projects.
- Approving body: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister.
- Road project: Ghoti-Trimbakeshwar-Jawhar-Manor-Palghar section, NH-160A, Maharashtra (~₹3,320 crore).
- Framework: PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (launched October 2021); GIS-based integrated infrastructure planning.
- Railway capital expenditure (Budget 2024-25): ₹2.52 lakh crore — all-time high.
- DFCs: Eastern (1,856 km) + Western (1,506 km) — operational; reduces pressure on mixed-use rail lines.
- India's logistics cost: ~14% of GDP (target: under 8% via National Logistics Policy 2022).
- India's rail network: 67,000+ km, fourth largest in the world.
- Multitracking advantage: Lower land acquisition cost vs. greenfield lines; faster delivery.