FM makes big ticket announcements for railways

Finance Minister NIrmala Sitharaman on Monday delivered her third Budget speech in which she made some  much-awaited  announcements -- Rs 35,000 crore outlay for COVID-19 vaccine; ITR filing not mandatory for senior citizens above 75 years;  Aatmanirbhar health programme; Voluntary vehicle scrapping policy, and the privatisation of BPCL, IDBI Bank, two more PSU banks, one insurance company and allocation for railway budget.

Here are the FM's mega plans for railways

Rs 1.10 lakh crore for Railways

Nirmala Sitharaman announced a record sum of Rs 1.10 lakh crore for the Railways, out of which Rs 1.07 lakh crore is for capital expenditure. The national transporter would monetise the dedicated freight corridors after its commissioning.

FM applauded Railways

Nirmala Sitharaman also applauded the services provided by the Railways to transport essential goods across the country during the COVID-19 lockdown.

National Rail Plan India 2030

Nirmala Sitharaman said the Indian Railways has prepared a National Rail Plan for India 2030 which will help create a future-ready railway system by 2030.  Bringing down the logistic cost for industry is the main strategy to enable Make-In-India.

EDFC and WDFC

As per FM Nirmala Sitharaman, it is expected that the eastern and western dedicated freight corridors would be commissioned by June 2022. The detailed project report would be undertaken in the first phase.

Pic: Geeta Mohan

Broad gauge route electrification

Broad gauge route electrification was expected to reach 46,000 route kilometres by the end of 2021 from 41,548 km from October 1, 2020. She also added that 100 per cent electrification of such routes would be finished by December 2023.

Better travel experience for passengers

The Railways would introduce the aesthetically-designed vistadome LHB coaches on tourist routes for better travel experience for passengers.