In a major boost to Railway infrastructure and connectivity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone and dedicate a slew of railway projects worth over Rs 85,000 crore from DFC’s Operation Control Centre in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Modi will visit Gujarat and Rajasthan on March 12. In Ahmedabad, he will lay the foundation stone for railway workshops, loco sheds, pit lines/ coaching depots; Phaltan-Baramati new line; electric traction system upgradation work and dedicate to the nation two new sections of Dedicated Freight Corridor between New Khurja to Sahnewal (401 Rkm) section of Eastern DFC and New Makarpura to New Gholvad section (244 Rkm) of Western DFC; Western DFC’s Operation Control Center (OCC), Ahmedabad.

The prime minister will also flag off ten new Vande Bharat trains between Ahmedabad and Mumbai Central, Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam, Mysuru- Dr. MGR Central (Chennai), Patna- Lucknow, New Jalpaiguri-Patna, Puri-Visakhapatnam, Lucknow – Dehradun, Kalaburagi-Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal Bengaluru, Ranchi-Varanasi, Khajuraho- Delhi (Nizamuddin).

He will also flag off the extension of four Vande Bharat trains. Ahmedabad-Jamnagar Vande Bharat is being extended to Dwarka, Ajmer-Delhi Sarai Rohilla Vande Bharat is being extended to Chandigarh, Gorakhpur-Lucknow Vande Bharat is being extended to Prayagraj and Thiruvananthapuram-Kasargod Vande Bharat is being extended to Mangaluru; and two new passenger trains between Asansol and Hatia & Tirupati and Kollam stations.

Modi will also flag off freight trains on Dedicated Freight Corridor from various locations – New Khurja Jn., Sahnewal, New Rewari, New Kishangarh, New Gholvad, and New Makarpura.

In Sabarmati, the prime minister will inaugurate the redeveloped Kochrab Ashram. This is the first ashram established by Mahatma Gandhi after coming to India from South Africa in 1915. It is preserved as a memorial and tourist space by Gujarat Vidyapeeth. The prime minister will launch the Master Plan of the Gandhi Ashram Memorial.

During his visit to Pokhran in Rajasthan, he will witness a synergised demonstration of indigenous defence capabilities in the form of a Tri-Services Live Fire and Manoeuvre Exercise.

The exercise ‘Bharat Shakti’ will have on display an array of indigenous weapon systems and platforms as a demonstration of the prowess of the country, premised on the nation’s Aatmanirbharata initiative. It will simulate realistic, synergised, multi-domain operations displaying integrated operational capabilities of the Indian armed forces to counter threats across land, air, sea, cyber, and space domains.