The government has decided to pump in $140 billion in the railways in the next Five Year Plan as infrastructure investment, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said here on Friday.
"We have taken a decision to invest $140 billion in the railways in the next Five Year Plan," he said at the Bengal Global Business Summit here.
Prabhu said that the dedicated freight corridor will be completed in another three years speeding up the movement of goods and ensuring direct linkages with ports.
The railways have awarded tenders of Rs.19,000 crore over the past six months and the amount will be doubled in the near future.
He said the proposed East-West metro, which links the satellite town of Salt Lake to Howrah, has been put on the fast track and is slated to be completed in two and a half years.
The first phase of the metro services would become operational in June 2018, said Prabhu.
