Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the Indian Railways has prepared a National Rail Plan for 2030 during the presentation of Budget for 2021–22 in the Lok Sabha.
The National Rail Plan for India 2030 will create a future-ready railways system and bring down the logistic cost for industry to enable Make in India.
"The plan is to create a future-ready railway system by 2030, bringing down the logistics cost," she said, adding, "This is at the core of the strategy to enable 'Make in India'."
The finance minister detailed that a record ₹1,10,055 crore has been provided to the Railways, of which ₹1,07,100 crore has been allocated for capital expenditure.
Moreover, the Railways is also set to monetise dedicated freight corridors. Western & Eastern dedicated freight corridors will also be commissioned. The Somnagar Gomu section of Eastern Dedicated Corridor will also be taken up this year.
"The following additional initiatives are also proposed. The Sonenagar-Gomoh section of 263 km on EDFC will be taken up in PPP mode this year itself. Gomoh-Dankuni section of 274.3 km will also be taken up shortly in short succession," she said.
{{/usCountry}}"The following additional initiatives are also proposed. The Sonenagar-Gomoh section of 263 km on EDFC will be taken up in PPP mode this year itself. Gomoh-Dankuni section of 274.3 km will also be taken up shortly in short succession," she said.
{{/usCountry}}High Density network & highly utilised network routes of Railways will be provided with train protection system to eliminate train collision incidents due to human error.
"The safety measures taken in last few years have have borne results. To further strengthen this effort high density network and highly utilised network routes will be provided with indigenously designed automatic train collision system that eliminates train collusion due to human error," she said.
Sitharaman also applauded the services provided by the Railways to transport essential goods across the country during the coronavirus lockdown.
The finance minister said the Railways would take up the future dedicated freight corridor projects -- East Coast Corridor from Kharagpur to Vijaywada, East-West Corridor from Bhusawal to Kharagpur to Dankuni and North-South Corridor from Itarsi to Vijaywada.
She said that broad gauge route electrification was expected to reach 46,000 route kilometres, which is 72 per cent by the end of 2021 from 41,548 km from October 1, 2020.
Stressing on the passenger convenience and safety, she said the Railways would introduce the aesthetically-designed vistadome LHB coaches on tourist routes for better travel experience to passengers.
(with agency inputs)