Cabinet Clears Eight Railway Multitracking Projects in Nine States

The correct answer is Rs 10,021 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved five projects of the Ministry of Railways at this cost, spread over 17 districts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, and adding about 540 km to the network. Option B, Rs 10,783 crore, is the cost of the other decision taken the same day, which covered three projects in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh; candidates who mix up the two packages pick it. Option C, Rs 12,540 crore, is not the cost of either decision and simply borrows the figure 540, which is the length in kilometres added by the southern package. Option D, Rs 9,656 crore, likewise plays on 656, the kilometres added by the eastern package. The safest way to remember the pair is that the smaller cost belongs to the larger number of projects: five projects at Rs 10,021 crore in the south, three projects at Rs 10,783 crore in the east.

The correct answer is 27 MTPA, that is 27 million tonnes per annum. The three projects in the eastern and central states are the Kharagpur to Jharsuguda fourth line, the Katni to Pendra Road fourth line and the Bilaspur to Pendra Road third line. They are essential routes for coal, cement, iron and steel, and the capacity added is put at 27 MTPA. Option A, 47 MTPA, is the extra freight capacity of the other package approved on the same day, the five projects in the southern states, so it is the classic trap in this question. Option C, 56 MTPA, borrows 56 lakh, which is the population of the villages the eastern projects will connect, not a freight figure at all. Option D, 14 MTPA, borrows the count of districts covered by the eastern package. Remember the pairing as five projects with 47 MTPA and three projects with 27 MTPA.

The correct answer is the PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan. Both Cabinet decisions state that the projects were planned under this master plan, whose aim is to raise multi-modal connectivity and logistics efficiency through integrated planning and consultation with stakeholders. Option A, Bharatmala Pariyojana, is a highways programme of the road transport ministry, so it does not govern railway line capacity works, although it shares the goal of better connectivity. Option B, the Sagarmala Programme, is about ports and coastal shipping and is run by the shipping ministry, which again makes it a plausible but wrong choice for a rail decision. Option D, the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, is indeed a railway scheme, but it deals with the redevelopment of stations rather than with laying third and fourth lines between them. For the examination, tie PM-Gati Shakti to every Cabinet note on new railway lines, because the phrase is repeated in each of them.