Union Budget 2026: All aboard super-speed trains to Bharat Growth Junction

Seven new high-speed rail corridors, running into 4,000 km at an investment of Rs 16 lakh crore — the Budget puts railways on the fast track.A Delhi-Varanasi trip will be cut to less than four hours, and travel between Varanasi and Siliguri can be completed in less than three hours. Mumbai to Pune can be done in just 48 minutes. Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the development of three corridors — which he termed as “southern high speed triangle or diamond” — will connect the southern states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and UT of Puducherry.“This triangle will prove to be a big boon and a growth multiplier for big economies in the regions, which have major IT hubs,” he said, adding that details will be out in 3-4 months. Work on these stretches will be carried out simultaneously.In her Budget address, finance minister Niramala Sitharaman called the seven corridors “growth connectors” and announced a new dedicated freight corridor connecting Dankuni in Bengal with Surat in Gujarat.These elevated stretches will “transform” transportation, Vaishnaw said . Chennai and Bengaluru in 73 minutes, Bengaluru-Hyderabad will take just 2 hours, Chennai-Hyderabad can be done in 2.5 hours and Pune-Hyderabad just 1.5 hours.Continuing govt’s thrust on railways sector, an allocation of Rs 2.8 lakh crore has been made for 2026-27, against Rs 2.55 lakh crore for the current fiscal. While Rs 2.78 lakh crore has been allocated for capital expenditure, officials said the total capex would be to the tune of Rs 2.9 lakh crore.The Budget document shows overall revenue is estimated to increase to little over Rs 3 lakh crore during 206-27 compared to the revised estimate of nearly Rs 2.8 lakh crore in the current fiscal. Govt has estimated higher revenue in both passenger and freight segments.