Visakhapatnam, April 28
Union Electronics & Information Technology and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday asserted that the NDA government is committed to the development of south India.
Accusing the opposition of trying to create a fake narrative of injustice to the southern states, Vaishnaw claimed that this was broken again and again by the commitments and actual delivery that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making in every sector.
In his address at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Google Cloud India AI Hub here in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Vaishnaw, referring to the bullet trains announced in the Union Budget 2026-27, stated that the entire high-speed diamond in the southern states once again proves their political commitment to the development of these states.
"Sector after sector, so much investment is coming to the Southern states. Nobody can say that the south Indian states are not being given the right justice. Justice is being given very clearly, very categorically by our Prime Minister and by the NDA government," he said.
The Central minister affirmed that commitment towards 'sab ka sath sab ka vikas' is visible in all sectors, be it railways, highways, power, ports and shipping.
He assured people of south India that every state will prosper equally under the leadership of PM Modi.
The minister said the bullet train between Amaravati and Hyderabad will reduce the travel time to just 70 minutes. He said the journey time between Amaravati and Chennai will be only 112 minutes. The same for the Hyderabad-Pune bullet train will be 1.55 hours.
Vaishnaw said the Chennai-Bengaluru bullet train will reduce travel time to only 73 minutes, while travelling from Hyderabad to Bengaluru will take only 2.08 hours.
He also spoke about the budget allocation for railway projects in Andhra Pradesh. He said just 10 years ago, the budget for railway projects was Rs 886 crore for the combined Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, but today the budget for Andhra Pradesh alone is Rs 10,134 crore.
The minister noted that Andhra Pradesh has 1.06 lakh crore worth of railway projects, which was unthinkable in the past.
A total of 74 railway stations are being reconstructed in Andhra Pradesh. He noted that 832 flyovers and underpasses in the state have been constructed, while another 299 were under construction.
He also mentioned that 1,759 km of track has already been constructed in Andhra Pradesh, which is more than the network of many countries. Another 3,300 km track is under construction. The state has also achieved 100 per cent electrification.
He revealed that Andhra Pradesh also has 16 Vande Bharat services and 22 Amrit Bharat services.
Vaishnaw announced that from Kolkata to Chennai on the entire east coast, wherever the railway line is double, it will be made into four lines.
"This will change the entire coastline. We will be able to run 500 new trains, many new cargo trains and many new container trains," he said, adding that connectivity to ports, tourism spots and cultural points will improve.
The Union Minister also announced that the South Coast Railway Zone will be notified on June 1.
He said that with this, the Centre has delivered on the promise made to Andhra Pradesh.
At the time of the division of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the then Congress-led UPA government had promised a new railway zone with Visakhapatnam as its headquarters.
In January 2025, Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone for the construction of the South Coastal Railway Zonal Headquarters in Visakhapatnam.
- IANS
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