Now Reading: India plans Rs 45,000 crore border railway upgrade
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India plans Rs 45,000 crore border railway upgrade
India is planning to invest up to Rs 45,000 crore ($4.7 billion) in railway upgrades along its borders with China, Pakistan and Bangladesh, according to people familiar with the matter. The spending…
India is planning to invest up to Rs 45,000 crore ($4.7 billion) in railway upgrades along its borders with China, Pakistan and Bangladesh, according to people familiar with the matter. The spending will be spread over the next 18 to 24 months and will fund new tracks, platforms and network strengthening in Punjab, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam and several northeastern states.
The border-state programme represents about 22% of all railway infrastructure spending planned over the next two years, the people said. The investment push will create dual-use infrastructure that supports civilian railways and military logistics, reducing troop mobilisation times and securing supply lines. The plan goes beyond the $3.4 billion earlier reported for rail lines in the northeast, including bridges and tunnels.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has already prioritised connectivity in sensitive zones, including 1,450 km of new roads along the Pakistan border and upgrades near Doklam. In the northeast, about 1,700 km of rail lines have been added over the past decade. The railway ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the investment plan.
Indian Opinion Analysis
This rail push is the latest in a long pattern of India matching China's infrastructure on contested frontiers. Under the Ministry of Railways, border rail projects fall under the 'strategic projects' category, which bypasses standard cost-benefit hurdles and is funded directly. The Rs 45,000 crore figure is nearly 1.5 times the earlier $3.4 billion tranche, suggesting the government is scaling up its response to China's dual-use airfields and heliports built since the 2017 Doklam standoff. The next milestone to watch is the detailed project reports for the new border links, which will reveal specific routes and timelines.
The outlay also reflects a shift from reactive to proactive infrastructure planning: India now aims to have all-weather rail connectivity to the Line of Actual Control, not just roads.
Source: japantimes.co.jp
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
