Budget 2018: Over Rs 4000 cr allocated for Northern Railways

A total of Rs 4,775.74 crore has been allocated for the Northern Railways for the fiscal year of 2018, in the Union Budget.

Out of the total funds, Rs 1973.79 crore has been allocated for the construction of new lines in the Northern Railway, and Rs 1900 crore for the construction of new lines in the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL).

Doubling works of Phapamau-Unchahar via Kunda Harnamganj (200 Km) and Amritsar- Chheharta (7 Km) has been sanctioned at a total cost of Rs 1600 crores and Rs 29 crores respectively. The outlay for the year 2018-19 is Rs 22.50 crores.

As part of the improvement of signaling system over Indian Railway, approximately Rs 9000 crores has been sanctioned for the modernization of signalling system by providing ETCS Level II technology over Northern Railway. The outlay for the year 2018-19 is Rs 565 crores.

The cost of replacement of old mechanical signalling by electronic interlocking at 53 stations is estimated at Rs 398 crores.

The total cost of the work of providing Wi-Fi internet facility at 25 'B' Category stations over Northern Railway is estimated at Rs 10 crores.

A total of Rs 154 crores (Nirbhaya Fund) has been sanctioned for the provision of CCTV cameras in 4038 coaches of premium trains (Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto).

Provision of video surveillance system will be at a cost of Rs 365 crores (Nirbhaya Fund) at 1589 stations of Northern Region, and at an approximate cost of Rs 5 crores (Nirbhaya Fund) at 234 'F' Category stations over Northern Railway

For the provision of about 260 escalators and about 100 lifts over Northern Railway, Rs 260 crores and 40 crores respectively have been allocated as a part of providing passenger convenience over Indian Railway.

In addition, 18 sections of Northern Railway will be electrified at a cost of Rs 482.69 crore, covering a route of 562.86 km.

Special emphasis has been given to the improvement of Goods Terminals, to increase line capacity of constructing new IBSs (Inter Block Signalling) on the most congested route of Lucknow-Saharanpur.

Yard remodeling has been sanctioned for greater mobility at Tuhglakabad and Asaoti station and to take care of smooth flow of traffic between DFC and railway network.

A new freight terminal at Khasa has been sanctioned to attract more traffic and to develop Cheharta as Coaching Terminal.