Indian Railways

[Naresh]

<b>Japan offers India record loan for railway</b>

<b>TOKYO : Japan on Wednesday offered a record $4.5 billion in loans to India to build a major railway as the Asian powers agreed to step up both economic and military ties.</b>

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso hastened to deny that the cooperation was aimed at countering China, where both leaders head on Thursday for a summit of Asian and European leaders. Under the agreement signed in Tokyo, Japan will provide an initial 450 billion yen ($4.5 billion) in low-interest loans to build the freight railway between New Delhi and Mumbai.

The 1,468-kilometre (912-mile) railway between India’s two largest cities will also include economic sectors around the tracks. It is aimed at improving a creaky infrastructure seen as a key bottleneck holding back India’s economy.

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->