Railway Budget 2026: The Union Budget for 2026–27 has earmarked a capital expenditure of Rs 2,93,030 crore for the Ministry of Railways. In Budget 2026,
the ministry had received an outlay of Rs 2,78,030 crore. The latest allocation marks the highest-ever funding for Indian Railways.
Presenting the Union Budget 2026–27, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced plans to develop seven high-speed rail corridors across the country. The proposed routes include Mumbai–Pune, Pune–Hyderabad, Hyderabad–Bengaluru, Hyderabad–Chennai, Chennai–Bengaluru, Delhi–Varanasi, and Varanasi–Siliguri.
The major thrust of capital expenditure will be on areas such as new line construction, gauge conversion, track doubling, traffic-related infrastructure and procurement of rolling stock, among others.
"In order to promote environmentally sustainable passenger systems, we will develop seven high speed rail corridors between cities as growth collectors," FM Sitharaman announced.The seven routes are:
1. Mumbai To Pune
2. Pune To Hyderabad
3. Hyderabad To Bengaluru
4. Hyderabad to Chennai
5. Chennai To Bengaluru
6. Delhi to Varanasi
7. Varanasi To Siliguri
India currently does not have any operational high-speed or bullet train corridor. The country’s first bullet train project, connecting Ahmedabad and Mumbai, is under construction, with the Gujarat section of the corridor’s first phase expected to become operational by 2027.
Sitharaman, talking about infrastructure, said, "During this past decade, our government has undertaken several initiatives for large scale enhancement of public infrastructure, including through new financing instruments such as infrastructure investment trust. We shall continue to focus on developing infrastructure in cities with over five lakh population that is tier two, tier three cities, which have expanded to become growth centers."
