New Delhi: The Railways has got a big fillip in budget 2023-24 with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing an outlay of Rs 2.40 lakh crore — the highest capital outlay since 2013-14 — for the sector at a time when a slew of ambitious projects like hydrogen powered trains, more Vande Bharats, completion of bullet train are in the pipeline.
In the 2022-23 fiscal, Rs 1.4 lakh crore was allocated for the Railways.
The hike is expected to go a long way to fund the ambitious expansion plans laid out by the Railways. Addressing a press conference in the evening, Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said there was a deficit in the budget all these years and the hike in allocation will help Railways realize its potential. “The estimates are very realistic, not optimistic or conservative,” he said.
Elaborating on the railway’s plan for the 2023-24 fiscal, Vaishnaw said the production of Vande Bharat trains will be ramped up and a new category called ‘Vande Metro’ will be launched to connect short distance locations by the semi high speed trains.
Vaishnaw said that currently Vande Bharat trains were manufactured only in the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai. “But now, Vande Bharat trains will also be made in three other coach factories – Sonepat in Haryana, Latur in Maharashtra and Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. By the end of next financial year, we hope to roll out two to three Vande Bharat every week,” the rail minister said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that 400 Vande Bharat trains will be added to the national transporter’s fleet by 2024.
Vaishnaw also said that Railways will roll out the first hydrogen train by December 2023. “The hydrogen trains will be indigenously manufactured and will start on the heritage rail routes like Shimla-Kalka,” the minister said.
The minister said that work on the bullet train (Mumbai – Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project), in Maharashtra, which was slow earlier because the then Uddhav Thackeray government did not give clearance, will be expedited.
An allocation of Rs 40,184 crore has been earmarked for the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited for the bullet train project. Of this while the budgetary support amounts to Rs 19,529 crore, another Rs 20,592 crore will be raised through Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources (PSUs, markets).
Among the other different heads, Rs 37,581 crore has been earmarked for developing rolling stock in the 2023-24 fiscal, up from Rs 7977.84 crore that was allocated in the 2022-23 budget estimate. The allocation was eventually enhanced to Rs 15,157.86 crore in the 2022-23 revised estimate.
Besides, Rs 31,850 crore has been allocated for addition of new lines while Rs 30, 749 crore has been earmarked for doubling rail lines. For track renewal, Rs 17,296 crore has been allocated.
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India, which is building the eastern dedicated freight corridor connecting Punjab and West Bengal and western dedicated freight corridor connecting Haryana and Maharashtra, has been allocated Rs 27,482 crore.
The railways has also projected a higher internal revenue at Rs 2.65 lakh crore in the 2023-24 fiscal year as against the previous fiscal. In the 2022-23 fiscal, railways had projected internal revenue at Rs 2.42 lakh crore in RE 2022-23.
The railway budget, which was earlier presented separately, was merged with the Union Budget in 2017.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)