Union Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw today said that the Union cabinet has recently approved the Gondia-Ballarshah railway line, a 240-kilometre strategic corridor with an investment of 4,819 crore rupees. He said this transformative project is set to play a pivotal role in enhancing passenger and freight connectivity between northern and southern India and will boost regional economy and tourism. He was addressing a joint press conference in Mumbai today along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the theme “Better Infrastructure, Better Technology, Better Trains”.

During the media interaction, Mr. Vaishnaw further informed that more than 1 lakh 70 thousand crores have been sanctioned for projects connected to Maharashtra during the NDA government third term, underscoring Maharashtra’s strategic importance in the national rail network and its future growth trajectory. Mr. Vaishnaw emphasized that infrastructure development is the cornerstone for increasing suburban services. He said projects worth nearly 17,000 crore rupees, covering more than 300 kilometers of new lines, are currently underway at a rapid pace.

He announced the upcoming launch of Kavach 5.0, a state-of-the-art safety and signaling system tailored for the suburban section. Kavach 5.0 is expected to significantly reduce the inter-train headway, enabling more trains to run safely and efficiently.

Maharashtra CM Fadnavis also elaborated that Mumbai One Card, will soon be launched, which is a single and all integrated card set to transform public transport across MMR region for passengers traveling in suburban trains, metro rails, monorail, BEST buses, etc.