The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved seven proposals from the ministry of railways to extend the rail network in various regions of the nation, at an estimated cost of Rs 32,512 crore, as part of the Center's push for infrastructure.

“The projects covering 35 districts in nine states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal — will increase the existing network of railways by 2,339 km. This will provide employment of 70.6 million man-days to the people of the states,” a statement by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) said.

According to the national transporter, these are essential routes for transportation of varied baskets of commodities such as foodgrains, fertilisers, coal, cement, fly-ash, iron and finished steel, clinkers, crude oil, limestone and edible oil, among others.

With the railways looking to increase freight revenues, the capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of 200 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).