Budget 2025: Rs 2.52 lakh crore allocated to railways

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Saturday said that the Budget 202526 maintained the governments continuous push to improve Railways by allocating Rs 252 lakh crore to the Indian RailwaysThe government has approved projects such as manufacturing 17500 general coaches 200 Vande Bharat and 100 Amrit Bharat trains 50 Namo Bharat rapid rail and 17500 general non AC coaches in next two to three years time Ashwini Vaishnaw told media personsVaishnaw said that a large amount of Rs 252000 crore rupees has been set aside for the financial year FY 202526 as gross budgetary support to Ministry of Railways second time in rowldquoThe new trains and modern coaches will go a long way in serving the low amp middle class people he added This yearrsquos Budget mentions infrastructure development projects of railways to the order of four lakh sixty thousand crore rupeesrdquo he addedFocusing on safety budget allocates one lakh sixteen thousand crore rupees for expenditure in this year to augment the safety of Indian Railways through various projectsldquoEarlier Government besides allocating Indian Railways same allocation of Rs 252000 crore as was done in last fiscal year also provided for Rs 10000 crore from extra budgetary resources to meet its expenses and modernise it thus taking the Capital Expenditure Capex to Rs 262000 crore This means expenditure on assets acquisition construction and replacement will be met out of funds from not only Gross Budgetary Support including Railway Safety Fund and Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh but the General Revenues of Indian Railways Provision of Rs 200 crore out of Nirbhaya Fund is also there in the budget Railways will mobilize additional Rs 3000 crore rupees from its internal resourcesrdquo the minister addedVaishnaw said that Indian Railways is all set to become the second highest freight carrying Railway touching 16 billion tonnes of cargo by the end of this fiscal On the high speed trains he said India aims to have 7000 km of high speed rail network supporting the speed of 250 km per hour by 2047 and also aims to achieve 100 percent electrification by the end of FY 202526Key highlights Freight loading projected at 1635 MT visavis 158806 MT achieved in 202324 Freight Net Tonne Kilometres NTKMs increased to 938 billion in RE 202425 from BE 202425 level of 930 billion Originating passenger target in RE is kept at 726978 million against 680545 million achieved in 202324 Originating passengers in RE 202425 is 6837 higher over 202324 Passenger Kilometres in RE 202425 are projected at 1204 billion against 1065 billion in 202324Revenue receipts Passenger revenue target kept at 80000 cr with a growth of 13237 Goods revenue target is maintained at 180000 cr which is 737 higher over 202324 Other Coaching target is retained 7500 cr whereas Sundry revenue target increased to 11000 cr from 10500 cr kept in BE 202425 Gross Traffic Receipts increased by 500 cr from BE 202425 to 278600 cr and higher over 202324 by 2332736 crore Miscellaneous receipts are retained at 400 crore Total receipts of IR in RE 202425 is 279000 cr growth of 8937 over 202324Key focus areas for capital expenditure include Safety Capacity augmentation Customer amenities Safety is a priority for IR Expenditure on safety is incurred from various sources ie GBS internal resources and revenue expenditure Total expenditure on Safety related activities in RE 2425 is 114062 cr and in BE 2526 116514 cr Indian Railway is making significant progress in network expansion by adding nearly by 4000 km annually Indian Railways has laid 31180 km of new track during last 10 years Indian Railways is set to achieve 10037 electrification in 2025 coinciding with the centenary of electrification on the Indian Railways IR More than 1300 stations are being redeveloped during the next 4 years These stations will integrate both sides of the city will have adequate Parking facilities MultiModal Integration High level platforms with improved surfaces and platform cover These stations will have adequate facilities for Divyangjans along with Lifts and Escalators Kavach Indian Railways has adopted indigenously developed Kavach as National ATP system in 2020 and after indigenous development specification for Kavach Version 40 was approved in Julyrsquo24 Work for Installation of Kavach on 10000 locomotives has already started Track side equipment for Kavach Version 40 on 3000 Km route of New DelhiMumbai and New Delhi ndash Kolkata will be completed by Dec2025 and work on remaining section is underway