By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JULY 24, 2024: UNION Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, electronic & IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw has yesterday said that economy is much resilient yesterday and is on a strong footing than in the past. The economy today is a combination of welfare, fiscal prudence, capital investment and investment in manufacturing, he said, adding that the budget presented today by the Finance Minister is a continuation of the economic policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused on inclusive growth that have been the mainstay of this Government in the last ten years

He further said that government has placed a special emphasis on making the Railways world-class.  Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2024-25 in Parliament today. For this FY 2024-25, the government has allocated record Capex to Rs. 2,62,200 Crores for Railways. The Gross Budgetary support is Rs 2,52,200 Crores for Railways during 2024-25.

Earlier, the Gross Budgetary Support to Rs. 2,40,200 cr. in 2023-24 which was only Rs. 28,174 cr. in 2013-14.The result of infusion of Capex is clearly visible as IR has achieved an all-time high freight loading of 1588 MT in FY 2023-24 up from 1095 MT in 2014-15 and Railway is inching towards the goal of 3,000 MT by 2030. Railways achieved all time high total receipts of Rs. 2,56,093 cr. in 2023-24 and generated a Net Revenue of Rs. 3,260 cr. to supplement Capex.

Addressing a press conference later in the day, Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "I thank Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman for record allocation of Rs 2,62,200 Cr. for Railways. A significant fund has been earmarked for safety related activities in Railways. In third term of this government, Railways has continued to get a boost."

Railways have also achieved several milestones in Infrastructure. In past 10 years, Railways commissioned 31,180 track kms. The pace of track laying increased from 4 km per day in 2014-15 to 14.54 km per day in 2023-24.During 2014-2024, IR has electrified 41,655 Route Kms (RKMs) as compared to only 21,413 Route Kms till 2014.

In this year's budget, additional funds have been allocated to promote industrial development. These funds will support the essential infrastructure needed to develop industrial clusters at strategic nodes: Kopparthy on the Vishakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, Orvakal on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor in Andhra Pradesh, and Gaya on the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor in Bihar. This initiative aims to catalyze industrial growth in the eastern region of India

Railways have adopted a new approach for infrastructure development. Three Economic Railway Corridors- Energy, Mineral and Cement corridors (192 Projects); Port connectivity corridors (42 Projects) and High Traffic Density corridors (200 Projects) have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti Mission for enabling Multi-Modal connectivity. Capacity enhancement, decongestion of high density networks, achieving reduction in logistics cost in the country, enhancing Passenger experience and their Safety remains the priority areas for the government.