Budget 2026: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced seven new corridors in four states of the country, including poll-bound West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
Sitharaman unveiled the infrastructure roadmap of the Narendra Modi led NDA government by announcing the railway corridors to enhance connectivity between major cultural and economic centres.
In her budget speech, the Union Finance Minister remarked that the government proposes to seamlessly develop passenger transport systems that are sustainable environmentally via seven high-speed rail corridors.
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Budget 2026-Proposed High-Speed Rail Corridors
The seven high-speed rail corridors include Delhi–Varanasi, Hyderabad–Bengaluru, Mumbai–Pune, Pune–Hyderabad, Hyderabad–Chennai, Varanasi–Siliguri and Chennai–Bengaluru.
A high-speed corridor between Ahmedabad and Mumbai at present is also in progress.
Sitharaman’s Push For Infrastructure-Centric Growth
Nirmala Sitharaman remarked that public capital expenditure of ₹12.2 lakh crore for FY27 to sustain infrastructure momentum.
Sitharaman also proposed that an Infrastructure Risk Guarantee Fund would be created for strengthening lender and investor confidence. This fund would offer calibrated public credit guarantees for significant projects. A new dedicated East-West freight corridor was also announced. It would connect Dankuni in the eastern part of the country with Surat in the west.
Twenty two national waterways were also proposed by the Union FM over the next 5 years for reducing logistics costs and promoting multimodal transport. Sitharaman said these infrastructural initiatives would be helpful to strengthen freight movement while also supporting sustainable cargo transportation.
After the announcements by Sitharaman, shares of railway-linked companies such as Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), Titagarh Rail Systems, Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL), Texmaco Rail & Engineering, Titagarh Rail Systems and Jupiter Wagons rose.
Titagarh Rail Systems and PSU railway stock IRFC were up 3.20 percent at ₹124, the stock of RailTel Corporation jumped 4.48 percent to ₹369.60 on the BSE; IRCTC stock was higher by 2.07 percent and RITES by 2.99 percent.
