New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has outlined plans to increase the capacity of the seven high-density railway routes in the country, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in an Instagram post. 

These high-density routes are spread across nearly 11,000 km and carry a major share of the country's total rail traffic. While covering just 16% of the railway network, these routes account for nearly 41% of total railway traffic, Vaishnaw said.

"Under the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji, Indian Railways is moving towards four-laning the entire high-density network to increase capacity and support the growing movement of passengers and freight across the country," the Railway minister said.

The seven high-density routes connect some of India's biggest cities and regions. These routes are Delhi–Howrah, Howrah–Chennai, Chennai–Mumbai, Mumbai–Delhi, Delhi–Chennai, Mumbai–Howrah and Delhi–Guwahati.

The aim is to create four railway lines across these high-density corridors, helping increase capacity on some of the busiest routes in the country.

Vaishnaw also underlined the environmental and economic advantages of rail transport.

With most of India's railway network now electrified, transportation of passengers and goods by trains is environmentally friendly. It is also economical as compared to air and even road transport.

According to officials, some stretches of these networks already have three lines. However, given the high volumes carried, capacity utilisation is over 100% in some of the networks.

"The expansion of these high-density routes is significant as it will help create more capacity across the railway network and support the future growth of passenger and freight traffic," the Railway minister said.

"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji, the four-laning of these key routes is part of a larger effort to build a railway network with greater capacity, lower transport costs and cleaner mobility," he added.

Officials said that this will help in overall economic development by providing mobility to people and moving more freight. "All hubs of the country have been covered. There will be a boost to the economy of the northeastern states as Delhi-Guwahati is one of the networks mentioned," one of them said.