Budget 2026: Railways, roadways get big push with outlay of ₹2.78 lakh crore and ₹3.09 lakh crore
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The Union Budget 2026 has set aside ₹2.78 lakh crore for the railways, a 10.3% increase from last year’s ₹2.52 lakh crore. Additionally, ₹2.93 lakh crore has been allocated to the Ministry of Railways for total capital expenditure (capex).
Similarly, the government has proposed to allocate ₹3.09 lakh crore for the road transport and highways ministry, around 8% higher than the ₹2.87 lakh crore provided in the current financial year. While presenting the Union Budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed raising the allocation for the state-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to ₹1.87 lakh crore from ₹1.70 lakh crore last year.
According to a senior government official, NHAI plans to bring its debt down to below ₹2 lakh crore in the current financial year ending March.
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The allocation will support the development of more highways and expressways at a time of rising interest rates and higher land costs.
7 new high-speed rail corridors
Under the new railway projects, the finance minister on Sunday announced that the government will develop the seven high-speed rail corridors aimed at improving connectivity and strengthening infrastructure across India.
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“In order to promote environmentally sustainable passenger systems, we will develop seven high-speed rail corridors between cities as growth collectors,” FM Sitharaman announced. The seven corridors are:
Mumbai to Pune
Pune to Hyderabad
Hyderabad to Bengaluru
Hyderabad to Chennai
Chennai to Bengaluru
Delhi to Varanasi
Varanasi to Siliguri
Commenting on the increase in allocation to railways, Suprio Banerjee, vice president & co-group head, ICRA, described it as a “healthy increase”.
“The gross budgetary support for the Ministry of Railways has witnessed a healthy increase of 10% to ₹2.78 lakh crore in FY2027 BE compared to ₹2.52 lakh crore in FY2026 RE. The allocation to railways represents nearly 23% of the overall capital expenditure of ₹12.2 lakh crore, which indicates the government’s strong focus on the sector. Track infrastructure, rolling stock, signaling and electrification, and customer amenities continue to dominate the allocations with a 64% share in FY2027 BE, and remain in line with the FY2026 trend. Development of seven high-speed corridors and addition of new dedicated freight corridor lines will increase the attractiveness and effectiveness of the railway sector on an overall basis,” he said.