Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today informed that a record budget of 23,926 crore rupees has been allocated to various railway projects in the state of Maharashtra. Addressing a virtual press conference, he stated that two new bullet train projects in the state, namely Mumbai-Pune and Pune-Hyderabad, have been sanctioned in the budget. Once completed, these projects will reduce the travel time between Mumbai and Pune to 48 minutes, and between Pune and Hyderabad to 1 hour and 55 minutes. He expressed confidence that these three cities will derive significant benefits from the bullet train projects.

He further informed that the government plans to connect the new freight corridor, approved in yesterday’s Union Budget, to Vadhvan Port in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, thereby creating countrywide freight connectivity. Mr Vaishnaw also said that various railway projects worth 1 lakh 70 thousand crore rupees are currently underway in Maharashtra. He reiterated that work on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is progressing at a fast pace and that it will be commercially operational next year.

For Mumbai Suburban Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw restated that 238 new AC local trains with automatic doors will be introduced soon, with a mechanism to regulate oxygen levels inside the compartments based on passenger numbers. He added that plans to increase the number of 15-coach local trains are underway, for which several stations are being widened and upgraded.