Last Update: January 17, 2023, 13:06 IST
Ministry of Railways is estimating an increase of more than 20 percent in its total capital expenditure
Government unveiling plan of 400 new Vande Bharat trains could be the highlight of this budget.
The Rail Budget was merged with the Union Budget in 2017. The Finance Minister now presents the Integrated Budget on the same day. As per the practice, the Rail Budget 2023 will be presented in Parliament along with the Union Budget on February 1.
Government unveiling plan of 400 new Vande Bharat trains could be the highlight of this budget. This is in addition to the plan for 400 semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains in three years, which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had already introduced in the last budget.
With the introduction of hundreds of these new trains, the central government aims to accomplish two goals. First, it is looking to gradually convert all existing high-speed trains, including the Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express, to raise the speed to over 180 kmph on important routes.
Moneycontrol reported that the second target is to lay the foundation for the railways to manufacture trains for export to markets in East Asia, Europe and South America by 2025-26.
Apart from this plan to increase the speed and export capabilities of the Indian Railways, the budget will also see an increase in the allocation of funds to strengthen the infrastructure. In this budget, there is a possibility of increasing the budgetary support by the government to Rs 1.9 lakh crore for the financial year 2024. This will be 30 percent more than Rs 1.4 lakh crore in the current year.
The Railways Ministry is projecting an increase of over 20 per cent in its total capital expenditure in the coming financial year to over Rs 3 trillion. The capital expenditure in this financial year was Rs 2.45 lakh crore.
Indian Railways is expected to improve the pace of various projects including construction of new lines, electrification, improvement of freight corridors, gauge conversion, improvement of signaling system and modernization of rakes.
News18 had earlier reported that the Union Budget 2023 proposes to lay 1 lakh km of new rail tracks over the next 25 years to modernize the network and boost train speeds. Reports late last year suggested that around Rs 10,000 crore could be budgeted for the electrification of 7,000 km of broad-gauge line in FY2012.
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