{
  "id": 1971974,
  "title": "Cabinet clears ₹13,041 crore rail, highway projects",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/cabinet-clears-13-041-crore-rail-highway-projects",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-19T16:23:18.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Live Mint",
    "slug": "live-mint",
    "url": "https://www.livemint.com/news/india/cabinet-clears-13-041-crore-rail-highway-projects-11787144742339.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sanctioned four railway expansion projects totaling ₹13,041 crore on Wednesday. These initiatives, targeting the Howrah-Chennai high-density network and a highway in Bihar, aim to bolster connectivity and infrastructure development. The Howrah-Chennai route, a vital rail corridor, joins other heavily utilized routes like Mumbai-Chennai, Delhi-Mumbai, and Delhi-Howrah. The approved projects will add approximately 410 kilometers of track, boosting connectivity to around 6,448 villages and 6 million people. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted that these seven key routes account for 40% of traffic despite representing only 11% of India's total rail network. Four of the projects focus on railway lines, including the quadrupling of the Cuttack-Paradeep route, which will facilitate 12 million tonnes of annual freight traffic. Additionally, the government approved a four-lane highway linking Muzaffarpur and Sonbarsa in Bihar for ₹3,591 crore, with the objective of reducing travel time between the two locations from 2 hours to 1 hour and improving access to religious and tourist sites.",
  "summary": "Four rail projects will add 410 km to the network across West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, while a four-lane highway in Bihar will cut travel time between Muzaffarpur and Sonbarsa.",
  "key_points": [
    "Cabinet approves ₹13,041 crore for four railway projects",
    "Howrah-Chennai high-density network expansion included",
    "Bihar highway project aims to cut travel time to 1 hour"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}