Transport Scotland will upgrade rail routes between Glasgow and Edinburgh and branch lines to Stirling and Alloa.
The transport agency will install electric power lines on more than 200 miles of rail track in the central belt by 2016.
The £1bn ($1.5bn) programme is intended to reduce journey times between Glasgow and Edinburgh to 35min, according to heraldscotland.com.
The UK's Network Rail had earlier postponed a £1.1bn ($1.7bn) programme to electrify two routes in England and Wales citing a cancellation of electric train orders due to underinvestment.
