He said the Indian Railways (IR) has made a plan to invest Rs 2.5 lakh crore in the next five years for expansion of the railway network, modernisation and upgradation of the technology and for providing world class facilities to the customers in the coming years.

For funding a large portion of this plan, use of internal resources and borrowings will be resorted to, he said. “We have started many PPP schemes for attracting an investment of Rs one lakh crore over the next five years,” he said.

He also disclosed that Rs 15,000 crore would be spent on making four railway stations - New Delhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai, Patna and Secunderabad – into world class facilities.

Through open competitive bidding, PPP partners would be selected for setting up diesel loco, electric loco and a rail coach factory at an estimated cost of Rs 4,000 crore.

The minister also announced that the IR would invest Rs 75,000 crore to augment line capacity on identified routes to create capacity for carrying an additional 310 million tonnes.

He said a blueprint on the route-wise detailed study has been prepared and accordingly, route-wise works would be undertaken in a phased manner. This would include 124 works of doubling, third and fourth lines, by-passes, flyovers, crossing stations, intermediate block stations, automatic signaling works and yard re-modelling.