The cabinet has approved ₹10,783 crore railway expansion projects, aiming to ease congestion on some of India’s busiest freight and passenger corridors. The three projects, cover 655 km through five states, and are to be completed by 2029-30.
The projects, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), cover 14 districts across West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and are aimed at easing congestion on some of the railway network’s key freight and passenger corridors.
The largest of these, the ₹6,528 crore Kharagpur-Jharsuguda fourth line, will add critical capacity to the Howrah-Mumbai corridor, where utilisation has already exceeded 118%. The project is expected to support 13.19 million tonnes of freight annually, including 3.41 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of coal and coke, 2.87 MTPA of cement, 6.15 MTPA of and steel and 0.76 MTPA of other commodities, while cutting logistics costs by nearly ₹968 crore a year. The project is expected to ease cargo movement from Haldia, Paradip and other eastern ports.
Two other , the Katni-Pendra Road fourth line and Bilaspur-Pendra Road third line, will add 13.5 million tonnes of freight capacity combined, largely supporting coal and industrial flows to power plants and northern markets. Together, the three projects are expected to generate over 223 lakh human-days of employment and save nearly 62 crore kg of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
Taken together, the three projects are expected to add around 26.69 MTPA of freight capacity based on the project-wise additional traffic or loading figures in the cabinet briefing—13.19 MTPA on Kharagpur-Bagdehi, 8 MTPA on Katni-Pendra Road and 5.5 MTPA on Bilaspur-Pendra Road. The projects will strengthen rail transport of coal, cement, and iron and steel, while improving passenger connectivity and access to tourist and religious destinations.
The 201-km Katni and Pendra Road project will cover four districts in Madhya Pradesh—Anuppur, Shahdol, Umaria and Katni—and Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi in Chhattisgarh. The section is part of the Kota-Paradeep freight and passenger corridor. It will provide a vital link between central India and the mineral-rich eastern region, including major South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) such as Korba, Gevra, Dipka, Kusmunda and Chirimiri, while facilitating coal movement to thermal power plants in northern and western India.
The Bilaspur (Uslapur) and Pendra Road will cover the Bilaspur and Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi districts in Chhattisgarh. It will cover the Bilaspur and Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi districts in Chhattisgarh. The project is expected to support the movement of and cement from the Raipur-Bhilai industrial belt to northern India and facilitate coal supplies to major thermal power plants in northern and western India.
The expansion is through the government’s push under thePM Gati Shakti plan, which aims to strengthen multimodal connectivity. With 67 railway projects worth ₹2.95 trillion already cleared under National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 3.0, the latest approvals highlight the government’s focus on logistics efficiency and industrial growth. This is alongside highway and metro projects worth ₹3.82 trillion and ₹1.65 trillion, respectively.
The cabinet’s broader release said the projects would enhance connectivity to about 4,790 villages, benefiting about 5.6 million people.