Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated a gross budgetary support of Rs 1,10,055 crore for Indian Railways.
“I am providing a record sum of Rs 1,10,055 crore for railways of which, Rs 1,07,100 crore is for capital infrastructure only,” Sitharaman said.
Elaborating on the development projects of the Indian Railways, she said, “The Indian Railways has prepared a National Rail Plan for India 2030. The plan is to create a future ready railway system by 2030. Bringing down the logistic cost for industry is at the core of the strategy to enable Make in India.”
Sitharaman said that the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) will be commissioned by June 2022.
“The Sonnagar-Gomoh sections (263 kilometres) of the EDFC will be taken up in the public-private partnership mode in this year itself. Work at the Gomoh- Dankuni section will be taken up in short succession,” she said.
“We will undertake future Dedicated Freight Corridor projects, namely, East Coast Corridor from Karakpur to Vijaywada, East-West Corridor from Busawal to Karakpur to Dankuni and North South Corridor from Itarsi to Vijaywada. Detailed project reports will be undertaken in the first phase,” she added.
“Broad gauge route kilometres (RKM) electrified is expected to reach 46,000 RKM 72 per cent by end of 2021, from 41,548 RKM on October 1, 2020. 100 per cent electrification of Broad gauge routes will be completed by December 2023,” Sitharaman said.
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