Their names were Sahib, Sindh and Sultan - three steam locomotives that in 1853 would earn their place in India´s rail history by hauling the nation´s first passenger train.

While relaxation of the Indian cabotage policy is being observed as a gateway of opportunities, investment in infrastructure and higher logistics costs are believed to be some of the major deterrents.

The transformation of India´s roads seems to be a reality now. In February this year, the government pledged to invest Rs 80,000 crore in the sector in the Budget. And now the target is to award 10,000 km by March 2016.

The government could soon give the go-ahead to excluding the cost of land while computing the total cost of infrastructure projects, a measure that will allow more ministries to clear their own projects without going through the time-consuming process of seeking the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for revised cost estimate amounting to Rs.2774 crore with Railway share as Rs.1247 crore and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways share as Rs.1527 crore for construction of Rail-cum-Road Bridge across River Ganga (14 kms) at Munger with a provision that the cost of land for road approaches may increase in future.

The Prime Minister´s Office (PMO) has asked the road transport and highways ministry to look into the option of setting up a high-powered committee to resolve disputes between private players and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)

The shipping ministry is set to launch the National Perspective Plan (NPP) by January next year, aimed at comprehensive and integrated development of coastline.

The Central Government will directly spend about Rs.12,000 crore to rebuild roads on Char Dham and Hemkund Saheb pilgrim routes in Uttarakhand which were damaged during the 2013 floods, adversely affecting the tourism business in the state, a union government official said. The project will be completed in the next four years.

At 4.87 million km, India has the second largest road network in the world. Transporting over 60 per cent of the country´s goods and serving 85 per cent of total passenger traffic, it is little wonder the Modi Government has accorded the highest priority to developing roads and highways.