Railways: FM proposes seven high-speed, one dedicated freight corridors in Union Budget

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed seven high-speed corridors among various cities and a new dedicated freight corridor between Dankuni in West Bengal and Surat in Gujarat in the Union Budget for 2026-27. ''In order to promote an environmentally-sustainable passenger system, we will develop seven high-speed rail corridors between cities as growth connectors,'' she said while presenting the Union Budget. According to the minister, these proposed corridors will be developed between Mumbai and Pune, Pune and Hyderabad, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, Chennai and Bengaluru, Delhi and Varanasi and Varanasi and Siliguri. Sitharaman said to promote environmentally-sustainable movement of cargo, she proposed to establish a new dedicated freight corridor connecting Dankuni in the east to Surat in the west. At present, work on one high-speed corridor between Ahmedabad and Mumbai is in progress. Similarly, two dedicated freight corridors -- Eastern and Western -- are in operation covering several states and districts.