Railway infrastructure development major focus of Budget 2020, says official

The government's aim is to make Indian Railways the growth engine of the economy and it has thus increased investment and introduced modern technology, Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, South Central Railway said on Wednesday.

The demands for grants and comprehensive details of Budgetary allocations for carrying out various works in Railways was tabled in Parliament today.

Speaking to ANI, Mallya said, "The aim of the government is to make Indian Railways the growth engine of the economy. To this end, the government has increased investment and introduced modern technology while focusing on safety, speed and service to passengers. The capital investments in Railways for the financial year 2020-21 is Rs 1,61,042 crore as against Rs 1,56,352 crore during 2019-20, which is 3 per cent higher."

He added: "The South-Central Railway zone has got a substantial budgetary allocation for the year 2020-21. Towards infrastructure works, SCR has been sanctioned a staggering amount of Rs 6,846 crore for the year 2020-21.

"For new lines, the total budgetary grant including Capital, Deposit, Extra Budgetary Resources etc is Rs 2,856 Crore. For Doubling, Third Line and Bypass line works, the total budgetary grant is Rs 3,836 Crore. For Traffic facilities, the total budgetary grant is Rs 154 crore."

Details of important measures announced in the Budget in Indian Railway's perspective are setting up a large solar power capacity alongside the rail tracks on the land owned by the railways, four stations' re-development projects and operation of 150 passenger trains on PPP mode and more Tejas-like trains to connect iconic tourist destinations.