Railways seeks gross budgetary support of Rs 50,000 crore for FY18

"They (Railways) have sought Rs 50,000 crore as GBS, and I think they might get Rs 40,000-45,000 crore...In fact, the railways does not have capacity to absorb more than Rs 30,000 crore," the official said.

FULL COVERAGE: RAILWAY BUDGET 2017-18

Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs 40,000 crore was announced in the 2015-16 Rail Budget. However, the Finance Ministry for the current year had slashed it to Rs 28,000 crore, citing slow spending pace.

Ending 92-year-old tradition, the government on September 21 decided to merge rail budget with the general budget and agreed in-principle to advance the date of its presentation in Parliament on February 1.

The government has also decided to do away with the Plan/ Non-Plan expenditure classification in Budget 2017-18 and replace it with capital and receipt.