Announcing the railways component of the annual Budget on Thursday, 1 February, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs 1.48 lakh crore, up from last year’s Rs 1.31 lakh crore.
“We will electrify 4,000 km of railway lines. Around 18,000 km of double line tracks will also be laid in 2018," Jaitley announced.
“As many as 12,000 wagons, 5,160 coaches and 700 locomotives are being procured. There are significant achievements of physical targets by Railways,” he added. The government also announced its intention to increase India's 124 airports to five times that number.
The Finance Minister also announced a 'Safety First' policy with allocation of adequate funds under Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh and a bonanza for suburban commuters in Mumbai and Bengaluru.
In some good news for Mumbaikars, Jaitley announced that the government would spend around Rs 11,000 crore on upgrading the city’s train systems. The Mumbai suburban rail will get 90 additional km of double line.
Following the announcement, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed his gratitude to the Narendra Modi government, adding that a total amount of Rs 40,000 crore would be dedicated towards “enhancing transportation in the city, with expansion of suburban railway system & new airports.”
Cheer for Bengaluru Too
Similarly, Rs 17,500 crore was allocated to develop a 160-km suburban railway network in and around the Bengaluru.
Additionally, Jaitley said that rail stations with a footfall of more than 25,000 would have escalators. The redevelopment of 600 major railway stations would also be taken up by the government. All trains would also soon have state-of-the-art facilities such as WiFi and closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, he said.
Further, the government also aimed to do away with 4,267 unmanned crossings in the next two years. Around 18,000 kiometres of railways tracks are set to be doubled in a bid to eliminate capacity constraints. “Over 36,000 km of track renewal is being targeted in 2018-19,” said Jaitley.
The Finance Minister also pointed out that 600 stations have been earmarked for modernisation by the Railways. Laying out a roadmap for the Indian Railways, Jaitley said the focus would be on modernisation of signalling, use of fog safety devices, better passenger amenities, and safety in the coming year.
However, no major new trains were announced and the focus was more on modernisation and passenger safety. The 92- year-old practice of a separate Railway Budget was discontinued last year and merged with the Union Budget.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)