In the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, Indian Railways received a record outlay of Rs 1,10,055 crore, of which Rs 1,07,100 crore is for capital expenditure in the Union Budget 2021-22.
Indian Railways has now highest ever total Plan capex of Rs . 2,15,058 Crores this year with Rs 7,500 Crores from internal resources, Rs 1,00,258 Crores from extra budgetary resources and Rs 1,07,100 Crores for capital expenditure allocation given in the general budget.
“The gross budgetary allocation is Rs 37,050 cr (53 per cent higher than BE 2020-21. In spite of the Covid- 19, this is a remarkable vindication of the progress being undertaken in Infrastructure projects,” the railways said in a statement.
With the increase in Capex, Indian Railways is expected to be the driver of Indian economy. The thrust of Annual Plan 2021-22 is on infrastructure development, throughput enhancement, development of terminal facilities, augmentation of speed of trains, signaling systems, improvement of passengers/users’ amenities, safety works of road over/under bridges etc.
National Projects of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and North Eastern region have been allocated highest ever outlay of Rs 12,985 cr. in BE 21-22 against the RE 20-21 of Rs 7535 cr i.e. increase of 72 per cent. Rs.37,270 Cr of GBS allocated for investment in PSU/JV/SPVs, with allocation for DFCCIL of Rs. 16,086 cr, NHSRCL of Rs. 14,000 cr and KMRCL of Rs. 900 cr.
“Intense monitoring, better management and engagement with all the stakeholders is ensuring that work is going on at unprecedented speed at the project sites now,” it said.
Some projects will be commissioned by March 2021 are redevelopment of Gandhinagar and Habibganj stations, Ahmedabad - Botad Gauge Conversion (170 km), Pilibhit – Shahjahanpur Gauge Conversion (83 km), Utretia – Raebarelli Doubling (66 km), Ghazipur-Aunihar Doubling (40 km), Ajmer – Bengurgram Doubling ( 47 km), and Nirmali – Sairagarh New Line including Kosi bridge (22 km). Key Railway Electrification projects that are also expected to be completed by March 2021 include: Mumbai - Abu Road, Mumbai – Ratnagiri,Howrah-New Cooch Behar section via Malda, Connectivity to Pipava Port , Ratlam/Mathura-Jaipur and Pune – Satara, Sonipat –Jind.
Last Financial year Railways faced unprecedented Covid related challenges. Passenger services had to be stopped to prevent the spread of the virus. Railways, however, kept the national supply chain running and moved many numbers of migrants in the most adverse conditions.
The lockdown period was used as an opportunity by the Railways to complete more than 200 critical maintenance projects including massive track maintenance exercise, overhauling the freight business and fast tracking of the ongoing infrastructure projects like Dedicated Freight Corridors, J&K and North-East connectivity etc.
“In the post lockdown phase, remarkable revival in IR’s freight loading has been observed especially in the last five months, which shows the economic revival in the country as well as modal shift to Railways. This is due to doubling of average speed of freight trains from 23 kmph to 46 kmph, various tariff and non-tariff measures, as well as a first time ever “Freight Business Development Portal” for online booking of freight. The year is likely to close with higher loading over last year,” it said.