The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of National Highways (NHs). Government is actively addressing the challenges country may encounter in maintaining and expanding its extensive road and rail networks. Infrastructure sector which is the prime mover of the economy contribute to the faster economic growth and development. Accordingly, average Annual Budgetary Allocation of the Ministry has increased by more than 940% from about Rs. 25,872 Crore/year during 2009-14 to about Rs. 2,70,435 Crore during 2023-24.

Length of 4 Lane plus NH network including High Speed Corridors has increased by more than 250% from about 18,371 km in March, 2014 to about 46,179 km so far. Also, length of less than 2 Lane NHs has decreased from about 27,517 km in March, 2014 to about 14,870 km which is now only about 10% of the NH network. Project implementation has already been started on 21 green field access-controlled corridors including expressways in which work in about 3,336 km length has been completed. Further, the Ministry has evolved a mechanism to ensure Maintenance and Repair (M&R) of all NHs sections through accountable maintenance agency. 

With respect to expansion of rail network, the average Annual Budget Outlay for New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling Projects across Indian Railways has increased by more than 480% from about Rs. 11,527 Crore/year during 2009-14 to about Rs. 67,199 Crore during 2023-24. As on 01.04.2023, across Indian Railways, 459 Railway Infrastructure Projects (189 New Line, 39 Gauge Conversion and 231 Doubling) of total length of about 46,360 km and costing about Rs. 7.18 Lakh Crore are in planning / approval / construction stage. During 2014-23, about 25,871 km length of Railway sections (5,785 km New Line, 5,749 km Gauge Conversion and 14,337 km Doubling) has been commissioned.

The prototype of the BS-6 Stage-II ‘Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicle (FFV)’ is in alignment with the alternate fuel mobility solutions.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.

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MJPS/NSK