Budget 2018 is outstanding for railways: Piyush Goyal

Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the Union Budget 2018 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, is outstanding for the railways.

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented Union Budget 2018 in the Parliament.

Talking to ANI, Goyal said it is outstanding budget for the railways as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government plans to invest Rs. 148000 crore as capital expenditure (Capex) for the railways, which is the highest ever.

"It is outstanding budget for the railways as the NDA government plans to invest Rs. 148000 core as Capex this year which is three times more than that of the the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which they invested in 2013-14," Goyal said.

He also termed the budget a phenomenal for people of Bangalore and Mumbai.

"It is phenomenal budget for the people of Bangalore, Mumbai as almost Rs 50000 crore for suburb expansion and modernisation projects have been approved for Mumbai. Bangalore will finally have suburban railways of its own with an investment of Rs 17000 crore. Both of these are big ticket commitments for cities with huge passenger flow," the Railways Minister said.

He added that focus on safety spending is nearly Rs 75000 crore, which is transformational change.

"The targets for electrification, new wagons, doubling of tracks have been doubled this year. For next three years, I can see Indian Railways evolving as a New Rail along with the evolution of New India by 2022," Goyal said.