Union minister for railways Ashwini Vaishnaw, on Tuesday, announced that out of the total budget of ₹2,62,200 crore, a record ₹1,08,795 crore will be dedicated to safety measures. He said that installation of Kavach automatic train-protection system was on the top of the priority list for the government.
The Union Budget, presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharman in Parliament on Tuesday, allocated a record Capex of Rs. 2,62,200 cr for Railways. “A big chunk of this allocation; ₹1,08,795 cr is for safety-related activities, which include, replacement of old tracks, improvement in the signalling system, construction of rail over and rail under bridges, and to install Kavach,” Vaishnaw said.
Addressing a press conference, Vaishnaw said, “A significant fund has been earmarked for safety related activities in Railways... In the third term of this government, Railways has continued to get a boost.”
He also said that an upgraded version of the automatic train-protection system -- Kavach 4.0 had got approval from the Research Designs and Standards Organisation three days ago. “With this approval, its installation will start happening at a rapid pace,” he said.
“Optical fibre cable, one of the components of Kavach, has been laid over 4,275 km and other components, such as telecom towers, the track RFID device, station Kavach and loco Kavach, are also being installed at a rapid pace,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Optical fibre cable, one of the components of Kavach, has been laid over 4,275 km and other components, such as telecom towers, the track RFID device, station Kavach and loco Kavach, are also being installed at a rapid pace,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Vaishnaw said that the budgetary allocation for railways used to be 35,000cr in around 2014, whereas it is now at 2.62 lakh crore.
“Before 2014, only 20,000 km of rail route was electrified but in the last 10 years, 40,000 km of rail route has been electrified. Similarly, in 2014, 4 km per day new track construction used to happen on an average, but in the last financial year, the Railways constructed tracks on an average for 14.5 km per day,” he said.
Comparing the jobs created, Vaishnaw said, in 10 years of the UPA rule, 4.11 lakh jobs were offered in the Railways, however, in 10 years of the Modi government, five lakh jobs, 20% more than the UPA regime, were offered.
He said that 2,500 general coaches will be made in the current financial year and 10,000 more general coaches, too, will be manufactured to cater to the increasing demand.