BEL, Titagarh Rail, Texmaco: Railway stocks rally as govt eyes four-laning of key routes- all you need to know

Railway stocks are expected to hog the limelight on Thursday, August 27, after Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said that Indian Railways is moving towards four-laning the entire high-density railway routes.

In a social media post, Vaishnaw said that there are seven high-density routes spread over nearly 11 thousand kilometres and carry a major share of the country’s rail traffic.

"The seven high-density routes are Delhi-Howrah, Howrah-Chennai, Chennai-Mumbai, Mumbai-Delhi, Delhi-Chennai, Mumbai-Howrah and Delhi-Guwahati. Vaishnaw said these routes account for around 41% of railway traffic while covering 16% of the railway network, according to a report by NewsOnAir, the official digital and mobile platform of Prasar Bharati, India’s public service broadcaster, featuring news and live broadcasts from Akashvani (All India Radio) and Doordarshan.

The Minister said that the expansion of these routes is significant as it will help create more capacity across the network and support the future growth of passenger and freight traffic. He also underlined the environmental and economic advantages of rail transport over road transport.

Vaishnaw said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 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.

Four-laning involves expanding existing railway corridors from two tracks to four, allowing more trains to run and easing congestion.

Stocks in focus

The announcement is a positive read-through for railway infrastructure, EPC and rail-equipment stocks.

How railway stocks were performing in early trade

The Nifty India Railways PSU Index was trading flat.

Shares of Ircon International was trading 0.27% higher at ₹124.38 apiece on the NSE, while Indian Railway Finance Corp (IRFC) was up 0.23% at ₹85.90. Bharat Electronics (BEL) shares were up 0.76% at ₹410 apiece on the NSE, and Titagarh Rail Systems was up over 1% at ₹835.15.

Jupiter Wagons was also trading higher. The stock was up 0.22% at ₹247.40 on the NSE, Texmaco Rail & Engineering was up 0.028% at ₹109.07 on the NSE. BEML Ltd shares were up 0.057% at ₹1,938.80 apiece on the NSE.