Union Cabinet Wednesday approved three major infrastructure projects namely 4-lane Badvel-Nellore Highway in Andhra Pradesh, 4-lining Wardha-Ballarshah (135 km) Rail line in Maharashtra and 4-lining Ratlam Nagda (41-km) Rail line in Madhya Pradesh.
The 108-km long Badvel-Nellore corridor will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 3653 crore on National Highway-67 (NH-67). The corridor will start from Gopavaram Village in the YSR Kadapa District and terminate at the Krishnapatnam Port Junction on NH-16 (Chennai–Kolkata) in SPSR Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh.
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It will provide strategic connectivity to the Krishnapatnam Port which has been identified as a priority node under Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC). It will also provide connectivity to Kopparthy Node on the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) and Orvakal Node on Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (HBIC).
Game-changing 4-lane Badvel–Nellore highway to reshape Andhra Pradesh’s connectivity! 🛣️✨
Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji, has approved the development of a 4-lane Badvel–Nellore highway in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The project will extend from… pic.twitter.com/HglSh5jxjc
— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) May 28, 2025
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari said that the Badvel-Nellore corridor will reduce the distance between Badvel and Krishnapatnam Port by 33.90 kilometers, reducing it from 142 km to 108 km.
“This will also shorten the journey time by one hour- from 2.5 hours to 1.5 hours. Additionally, the project is expected to alleviate congestion on existing NH-67 and NH-16,” said Gadkari in a post on X.
Similarly, in the view of faster transportation of Goods via Railway, the Cabinet approved two multitracking projects, which lie on the essential routes for transportation of commodities such as coal, cement, clinker, gypsum, fly ash, containers, agriculture commodities, and Petroleum products etc.
Ratlam-Nagda is a 41-km line, of which the 3rd and 4th line will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 1018 crore in a period of four years. Ratlam connects key junctions in four directions- North Nagda, South Vadodara, East Indore and West Chittorgarh.
Four lining of 135-km Wardha-Ballarshah will be done at a cost of Rs. 2381 crore. It is a crucial section of Delhi-Chennai trunk corridor.
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According to the Ministry of Railways, the capacity augmentation works on both lines will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 18.40 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum). The two projects covering four Districts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 176 kilometers. Both Railways projects are expected to be completed by 2029-30.
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