For the first time, passenger trains on New Delhi-Howrah and New Delhi-Chennai routes will run at a speed of 150 km per hour, Railway Minister Laloo Prasad said on Saturday.

With a view to developing Indian Railways as a world class railway, an Integrated Railway Modernisation Plan spanning five years upto 2010 has been formulated, he said laying the 2005-06 Railway Budget in the Lok Sabha.

"Under this plan, in the passenger segment running of 150 km per hour trains on New Delhi-Howrah and New Delhi-Chennai routes is envisaged," Prasad said.

Railway Budget 2005-06: Complete Coverage

He said the total expenditure for execution of the identified items in the modernisation plan is about Rs 24,000 crore (Rs 240 billion).

He said the freight business segment envisaged running of goods trains at 100 km per hour on the Golden Quadrilateral and its diagonals, introduction of higher axle load, double stack containers and roll-on-roll-off wagons on identified routes.

To increase the freight loading capacity of each wagon by four tonnes, the Minister said it is proposed to introduce lightweight, corrosion resistant aluminium wagons during the period of modernisation plan.

Other modernisation initiatives include track modernisation and its maintenance practices, modernisation of bridge management system, signalling and telecommunication system, mechanical and electrical systems and disaster management system.