“India will invest more than USD 100 billion in the development of its railway network. We will continue to launch new projects that involve the construction of the new lines, the duble-tracking construction, the electrification of our railways and the acquisition of the new rolling stock. All these projects will allow the increase of speeds, the creation of new rail connections and the development of our economy and transport system, as a sustainable one. USD 6 billion are available for the installation of new technology and the implementation of a part of our rolling stock acquisition programme. We have started the implementation of the high speed rail line linking Mumbai and Ahmedabad, and we want to launch tenders for the acquisition of rolling stock. When you want to have a cleaner and a sustainable transport system, you have to invest in the railway development,” Suresh Prabhu, India’s Minister of Railways said, during the Middle East Rail 2017.
We remind that at the end of 2016, Japanese funding agency JICA, Railway Ministry and the National High Speed Rail Corporation signed a tripartite consultancy agreement for the high-speed railway project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The high speed railway line between the two important cities in Western India is expected to cover 508 km in about two hours, running at a maximum speed of 350 km/h and operating speed of 320 km/h. the estimated cost of the project is USD 14 billion, of which 81 per cent of the funding for the 508 km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad line will come in form of a loan from Japan.
A new railway programme that will be realized by India, involves 7000 railway stations that will be powered by solar energy. According to plans laid out in India’s latest union budget, almost every railway station in the country will soon be powered by solar.
This year, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu urged the state government to set up a joint venture with the Indian Railways to facilitate implementation of more infrastructure projects. For FY 2017-2018, India’s authorities have announced that will allot USD 59 billion to transport projects, including railways, road and air transport. This year, it was launched the 2019 rail strategy that involves rail projects on infrastructure, passenger and freight transport
Relating the country’s dedicated freight corridors projects, all major contracts under the Dedicated Freight Corridors were awarded. In January, for Eastern DFC (1318 km), the civil contracts awarded represented 83% of the total length (or 1096 km) and for Western DFC (1504 km), civil contracts were awarded. Of the total length of DFCs, 2822 km, the civil contracts were awarded for 2600 km (or 92% of the total length). Regarding the system contracts, the company awarded electrical contracts for 82% of the total lines length (2315 km), and the signal contracts awarded percentage (82%, for 2315 km of the total length).
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