Mumbai set to get newly designed trains, time between locals to be reduced, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

The Railway Minister announced an allocation of Rs 23,778 crore for Maharashtra in the Union Budget, one of the highest, which will also include plans to introduce as many as 238 air-conditioned local trains.

Mumbai's suburban railway network will soon have newly designed trains for a more comfortable journey, the gap between two local trains will be reduced, in an effort to reduce over-crowding and improve passenger comfort, Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said.

The Railway Minister announced an allocation of Rs 23,778 crore for Maharashtra in the Union Budget, one of the highest, which will also include plans to introduce as many as 238 air-conditioned local trains. "A plan for new design trains on the Mumbai suburban network will be announced soon," said the minister.

Vaishnaw called the allocation for railways in Maharashtra a record, which is '20 times more than the budgetary allocations made under the erstwhile UPA governments'.

Centre plans to introduce nearly 10% more locals in Mumbai or around 300 trains in phases, in addition to the 3,000 that are operating through the suburbs daily, once ongoing infrastructure projects are completed.

The shares of capex-linked companies - especially those involved in railway and infrastructure sectors had come under selling pressure on February 3, as investors offloaded shares in these names after a subdued capex announced by the finance minister in the 2025 budget. The capital expenditure for railways was kept unchanged at Rs 2.52 lakh crore for the financial year 2025-26, which led to a strong bout of selling in the shares after the Union Budget. An additional Rs 10,000 crore were allocated as extra budgetary resource for modernization.

Centre has planned 200 new Vande Bharat trains, 100 Amrit Bharat trains and 50 Namo Bharat rapid rail over next two-three years, along with 17,500 general non-AC coaches. The India Railways is set to achieve 100% electrification by the end of FY26.