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On Monday, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that Indian Railways had successfully utilized 98% of its budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 by the end of February. This achievement reflects the rapid implementation of various projects. The minister noted that nearly all capital expenditure from the previous fiscal year was spent by the first week of March, with over 98% utilized by the last week of February. Following this, there was a need to slow down spending to ensure a balanced conclusion to the fiscal year.

The minister further revealed that a total of 49,000 kilometers of railway tracks have been electrified in India, surpassing the entire rail network of Germany. Additionally, 36,000 kilometers of new tracks have been added, which is nearly six times more than Switzerland's rail network. Vaishnaw emphasized that travel times on these new routes will significantly decrease, encouraging passengers to prefer trains over flights. He mentioned that a new corridor is being developed between Mumbai and Pune, reducing travel time to just 28 minutes. The journey from Pune to Hyderabad will take 1 hour and 55 minutes, while traveling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru will take approximately 2 hours.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated, "On these routes, flight services will not receive much attention. These areas will nearly become obsolete for airline companies. Investors in airlines should understand that 99% of traffic on these routes will be handled by railways." He added that the travel time between Bengaluru and Chennai will be reduced to 78 minutes, effectively merging the two cities into a single metropolitan area. Furthermore, the journey from Delhi to Varanasi will take 3 hours and 50 minutes, while the trip from Delhi to Lucknow will be possible in about 2 hours.