Mumbai to Indore railway route will serve as shorter connection between western and southwestern parts of India: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw yesterday highlighted that the newly approved railway route from Mumbai to Indore would serve as a shorter connection between the western and southwestern parts of India and central India, significantly boosting tourism in the region, particularly to sites like the Shri Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga Temple in Ujjain.

Addressing the event via video conferencing, Minister Vaishnaw stated that the project is the result of the PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity, which has been possible through integrated planning and will provide seamless connectivity for the movement of people, goods, and services.

The project covers 6 districts in 2 states, i.e., Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 309 km. The New Line project will provide connectivity to approx. 1,000 villages and about 30 lakh population.

The project will



provide direct connectivity to Pithampur Auto Cluster from the gateway port of JNPA and other state ports. The project will also provide direct connectivity to millet-producing districts of Madhya Pradesh and onion-producing districts of Maharashtra, which further facilitates the distribution of the same to the northern and southern parts of the country.

This is an essential route for transportation of commodities such as agriculture products, fertiliser, containers, iron ore, steel, cement, POL, etc. The capacity augmentation work will result in additional freight traffic of a magnitude of about 26 MTPA (million tonnes per ar). The railways, being an environment-friendly and energy-efficient mode of transportation, will help both in achieving climate goals and minimising logistics costs for the country, reduce oil imports (18 crores) and lower CO2 emissions (138 crores), which is equivalent to plantations of 5.5 crores of trees.