Aesthetically-designed vistadome Linke Hofmann Busch coaches will be introduced on tourist routes to enhance the travel experience for passengers. Credit: Belle Maluf on Unsplash.

The Government of India has announced its plans to commission the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors by June 2022 to reduce the logistics cost for the railway industry.

The announcement was made by the Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the presentation of the Union Budget.

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After announcing a sum of over $15bn (over Rs1,700tn) for the railways, Sitharaman said: “The plan is to create a future ready railway system by 2030, bringing down the logistic cost for industry is at the core of the strategy to enable Make In India.

“The following additional initiatives are also proposed. The Sonenagar-Gomoh section of 263km on EDFC will be taken up in public-private partnership (PPP) mode this year itself. Gomoh-Dankuni section of 274.3km will also be taken up shortly in short succession.

“We will undertake future DFC projects such as the east coast corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada, the east-west corridor from Bhusaval to Kharagpur to Dankuni, and the north-south corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada.”

While announcing the Railway Budget 2021, Sitharaman mentioned that 100% electrification of the broad gauge network will be completed by December 2023.

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Aesthetically-designed vistadome Linke Hofmann Busch coaches will be introduced on tourist routes to enhance the travel experience of passengers.

To offer metro services at a lesser cost, the finance minister also announced two new technologies, namely metro lite and metro neo, for convenience in tier II and tier III cities and outer areas.

At a cost of over $268m (Rs19.57bn), work will commence soon on Phase-II of Kochi Metro Railway which will measure about 11.5km.

The operating ratio of Indian Railways is estimated to recover to 96.96% by the end of the current financial year.

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