New Delhi: Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said that an unprecedented budget allocation has been made towards the railway sector in the Interim Budget for the financial year 2024-25, which was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Ashwini Vaishnaw informed that Indian Railways has been allotted a total of Rs 2.52 lakh crore outlay for the financial year 2024-25.
"PM Modi changed the entire strategy (for Railways) over the last 10 years, and now the focus is being made on investment to modernise the Railways. For this year, the budget that has been allocated for the railways is Rs 2.52 lakh crore," the Minister for Railways said. Highlighting the budget allocation of several states in the railway sector, Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "In a land where so much innovation is happening, Tamil Nadu has received an outstanding outlay of Rs 6,331 crore to carry out several rail infrastructure and safety projects."
"Kerala has received an exceptional outlay of Rs 2,744 crore for several rail infrastructure and safety projects," the Railways Minister said, adding that Himachal Pradesh is set to get Rs 2,681 crore for similar projects. Stating that 100 per cent electrification of the railway network has been achieved in Haryana, the Minister for Railways informed that Rs 2,861 crore has been allocated for the development of railways in the state.
Union Railway Minister announced that the government is prioritising the integration of new technology to augment railway capacity and passenger safety. In response to the Interim Budget 2024 at Rail Bhavan in the national capital, Vaishnaw stated that the sleeper facility in 10 Vande Bharat trains will be completed by March. Additionally, plans are underway for the introduction of Vande Metro and several new Amrit Bharat trains in the future, reflecting the government's commitment to enhancing and diversifying railway services.
Talking about track facilities across the country, the minister informed, "New tracks are being developed across the country, once the track augmentation work gets over more trains will be added on those routes to ensure every passenger gets a confirmed ticket when they book a ticket for the journey. Increasing the number of trains will help to reduce the waitlist."
Earlier, the Finance Minister announced the setting up of three new major railway economic corridors. “These include the energy, mineral and cement corridor, a port connectivity corridor and a high traffic density corridor,” she said while presenting the Interim Budget in the Lok Sabha.
She said that the railway projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti Yojana for enabling multi-modal connectivity.“These corridors will accelerate GDP growth by improving logistics efficiency and reducing logistics costs,” she said. She said that the decongestion of high-traffic corridors will result in improving operations, which in turn will result in safety and higher travel speeds for passengers.
She also announced that 40,000 normal rail bogies will be converted to Vande Bharat standards to provide more convenience and comfort for the passengers and their safety. Important rail infrastructure projects, including Metro Rail and NaMo Bharat, will be expanded to more cities to focus on transit-oriented development, FM Sitharaman said.
Expansion of these systems will be supported in large cities focusing on transit-oriented development, she added. The aviation sector has been galvanised in the past 10 years, the number of airports has doubled to 149. Rollout of air connectivity to tier-two and tier-three cities under the UDAN ( Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme has been widespread. Expansion of existing airports and development of new airports will continue expeditiously, the Finance Minister said.
The Union Finance Minister stated that the success of organising G20 meetings in 60 places presented a diversity of India to a global audience. "To address the emerging fervour for domestic tourism, projects for port connectivity, tourism infrastructure, and amenities will be taken up on our islands, including Lakshadweep. This will also help in generating employment," Sitharaman said.
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