Chennai - Mumbai Railway Route to Be Expanded to Four Tracks

The Railway Ministry has planned to expand the existing double-track railway routes from Chennai to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata into four-track routes.

According to an announcement by Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Delhi-Howrah, Howrah-Chennai, Chennai-Mumbai, Mumbai-Delhi, Delhi-Chennai, Mumbai-Howrah and Delhi-Guwahati routes are among the most congested railway corridors in the country.

These seven routes, spanning a total of 11,000 km, handle 41 percent of the total traffic of Indian Railways.

The expansion will provide additional capacity to handle the increasing passenger and freight traffic. It will also help reduce transportation costs through rail transport and promote environmentally friendly transportation.

Expanding these key routes to four tracks will create the additional capacity required to meet future growth in passenger and freight traffic. The existing double-track routes from Chennai to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata will be expanded to four tracks, effectively doubling the railway capacity compared to the current level.