India has opened the first section of a 1,386-kilometer (861 mile) expressway linking its capital New Delhi to the financial hub of Mumbai, a significant milestone in the South Asian nation’s push to modernize its infrastructure and catch up with its neighboring rival China.
Once complete, the eight-lane carriageway — four in each direction — will be India’s longest, and is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities to 12 hours, cutting the entire journey by half.
On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a 246-kilometer section of the expressway connecting Delhi to the city of Lalsot in the northwestern state of Rajasthan — a popular tourist destination that attracts tens of thousands of travelers with its sprawling palaces and mountainous topography.
The Indian government previously said it had invested about $13 billion into the project, which aims to provide a faster link between the capital and five states: Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The first section alone cost $1.4 billion, it said in a news release Sunday.
The opening of the first stretch is a major boost for the world’s fifth-largest economy and soon to be most populous nation, even as India’s infrastructure remains far behind that of China
One project that aims to improve the country’s railways is the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. The under-construction 1,506-kilometer (935 mile) route will eventually connect the city of Dadri in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh to the Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is expected to decongest India’s railway network and increase the average speed of goods-carrying trains