Economic Survey 2026: How government put road & rail infra expansion on fast track 

The Economic Survey 2025-2026 paints a rosy picture of railway and highway infrastructure in the Indian economy. On National Highways, the survey says the network has grown 60% in 12 years. In FY14, the national highway network stood at 91,287 km which expanded to 1,46,572 km in FY26 (up to December). On similar lines, operational High-Speed Corridors rose nearly ten-fold—from 550 km in FY14 to 5,364 km in FY26 (up to December). 

The survey document mentions that key initiatives and reforms in the Roadways and Highways Sector includes High-Speed Corridor Development, Economic Node Connectivity and Urban Decongestion. 

In order to keep heavy commercial traffic away from city centres, the Modi government has finalised a new Urban Decongestion Policy for the construction of access-controlled ring roads and bypasses for cities with populations over 1 lakh said the Survey. 

FULL COVERAGE:  Union Budget 2026

Under the policy, 34 new ring roads have been planned to supplement 36 existing projects. 

In September 2025, the road ministry had sought views from states and union territories on a set of policy proposals under finalisation.

In the railways sector, infrastructure has expanded to 69,439 route km as of March 2025, a targeted addition of 3,500 km in FY26. Also, 99.1 per cent electrification has been achieved by October 2025. 

The survey document further says that record capital expenditure has been carried out on railway infrastructure, with a focus on new lines, doubling and multi-tracking, rolling stock augmentation, signaling and safety related works. 

The key infrastructure initiatives in the railway sector include Economic Railway Corridors (Three corridor programs – Energy, Mineral & Cement; Port Connectivity; and High Traffic Density routes) along with Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail. 

Other major railway related projects include dedicated freight corridors, station redevelopment [Amrit Bharat Station Scheme – 1337 stations are being redeveloped], safety and technology upgradation [Kavach – Advance Train protection System], upgradation of railway tracks [more than 78 percent of track has been upgraded for sectional speed of 110 kmph and above] and PPPs.