Railway Budget 2023: Indian Railways got a capital outlay of Rs 2.40 lakh crore from FM Sitharaman in the budget. This is the highest ever capital outlay for Railways and is 9 times of the outlay provided to Railways in 2013-14. The Railway Budget was merged with the Union Budget in 2016 and is no longer presented separately.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget 2023 speech said, “A capital outlay of Rs 2.40 lakh crore has been provided for Railways. This is the highest ever outlay, almost 9 times of the outlay made in 2013-14.” “The newly established Infrastructure Finance Secretariat will assist all stakeholders in driving greater private investment in infrastructure, including railways, roads, urban infrastructure, and power, which are largely dependent on public resources,” he added.
Vande Bharat trains
Indian Railways is focusing on the rollout of 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 2023. Meanwhile, a tender is expected to be floated soon to manufacture 200 Vande Bharat sleeper trains. Vande Bharat Express trains are chair car services that are gradually replacing the Shatabdi Express trains on the Indian Railways network. The sleeper version of Vande Bharat Express will replace the premium Rajdhani Express trains.
Railway experts have stressed on the need to upgrade major tracks to 160 kmph speed capability to be able to run Vande Bharat trains to their full potential.
The Economic Survey 2023 has also acknowledged the launch of Vande Bharat trains as a major initiative by the Indian Railways. “The semi-high-speed self-propelled Vande Bharat trainset was manufactured by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai with indigenous efforts. These trains have ultra-modern features like quick acceleration, a substantial reduction in travel time, top speed of 160 kmph maximum speed, on-board infotainment and Global Positioning System (GPS) based passenger information system, etc.,” says the survey.
Meanwhile, the Economic Survey 2023 expects an increase in the number of passengers on the Indian Railways. “During the current financial year, robust growth has been observed in the number of passengers with the number of passengers already reaching 418.4 crores (by November 2022). Increased mobility across the country and demand for faster and competitive trains will further increase passenger traffic growth in the years to come,” the survey said.
Read More: In the budget, the government also changed the rules for withdrawing money from PF, now this much TDS will be deducted
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