Railways’ capex swells to Rs2,15,058 cr with Rs1,10,055-cr budget allocation
05 Feb 2021
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Indian Railways will have the highest ever total Plan capex of Rs2,15,058 crore in the 2021-22 financial year with Rs7,500 crore from internal resources, Rs1,00,258 crore from extra budgetary resources and Rs1,07,100 crore coming from capital expenditure allocation given in the general budget.
In the budget estimates of 2020-21, the total capex was Rs161,042 crore. The capex in BE 2021-22 is Rs54,016 crore, which is 33 per cent higher than BE for 2020-21.
Funds allocated will go to boost Atma Nirbhar Bharat Mission and utilised towards completion of vital infrastructure projects, capacity building passengers amenities and safety enhancement.
The national transporter has embarked on a major overhaul of its nationwide network and operating system.
Announcing the record outlay, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Railways has prepared a `National Rail Plan for India – 2030; which aims to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by 2030.
“Bringing down the logistic costs for our industry is at the core of our strategy to enable ‘Make in India’.” Sitharaman said, adding that the two exclusive freight routes - Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and the Eastern DFC - are expected to be commissioned by June 2022.
Further, the finance minister proposed the Sonnagar – Gomoh Section (263.7 km) of Eastern DFC will be taken up on PPP mode in 2021-22. Gomoh-Dankuni section of 274.3 km will also be taken up in quick succession.
Future dedicated freight corridor projects namely, the East Coast corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada, East-West Corridor from Bhusaval to Kharagpur to Dankuni and North-South corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada will be undertaken. Detailed project reports will be undertaken in the first phase.
She said the Railways proposes to achieve 100 per cent electrification of Broad-Gauge routes by December 2023. Broad gauge route kilometers (RKM) electrified is expected to reach 46,000 RKM, ie, 72 per cent by end of 2021 from 41,548 RKM on 1 October 2020.
Sitharaman also proposed the introduction of the aesthetically designed Vista Dome LHB coach on tourist routes to give a better travel experience to passengers.
High density network and highly utilised network routes of the Railways will be provided with an indigenously developed automatic train protection system that eliminates train collision due to human error.
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