The government is planning an electric highway between Delhi and Mumbai: Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said the Road Transport Ministry is planning to construct an electric highway between Delhi and Mumbai.  

Addressing an event organised by the Hydraulic Trailer Owners Association, the Road Transport and Highways Minister said the government will be spending about Rs 2.5 Lakh Crores on the electric highway, which should be a major boost to India’s adoption of EVs.

“Our plan is to make an electric highway from Delhi to Mumbai. Just like trolleybuses, you can run trolleytrucks on the highway,” he said, without providing more details.  

A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws power from overhead wires, much like the trams of Kolkata. Trolleybuses have been a major component of public transport in major European cities, and have been vital in curbing the usage of private ICE vehicles, and curbing pollution in Europe.  

An electric highway generally refers to a road which supplies power to vehicles travelling on it, either by using overhead power lines or by using power lines that have been set into pre-cut grooves, on the road itself.

The minister also stated that his ministry has taken a decision to connect all districts across India by four-lane roads.  

At the event, he also urged users of heavy vehicles to move towards alternative fuels like ethanol, methanol and green hydrogen so as to help tackle the problem of pollution. “I request heavy vehicle owners to use alternative fuels like ethanol, methanol and green hydrogen as they are cost-effective and import substitutes.”

Taking cognizance of the issues that heavy vehicle owners are facing because of corruption in state Regional Transport Offices, the Minister also announced that they will soon start working on digitising all services provided by RTOs.

Earlier, the minister took to Twitter to announce that the Dwarka Expressway, which is also known as the Northern Peripheral Road, will be operational by the coming year, and will help in easing the congestion on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway.  

He noted that this expressway will be developed as the first elevated urban expressway in India and will also help reduce pressure on Delhi-Gurugram Expressway and arterial roads

Minister Gadkari also added that the 29 km expressway connecting Dwarka in Delhi to Gurugram in Haryana is being developed at a total cost of Rs 9,000 crore, and about 19km of the expressway stretch falls in Haryana while the remaining 10kms falls in Delhi. The expressway is estimated to consume 2 lakh MT of steel and 20 lakh cubic metres of concrete.