Railways to spend Rs 20K cr towards rolling stock in 2019-20

The railways would spend an amount of Rs 20,000 crore towards augmenting rolling stock during 2019-20, an official said Sunday.

Railway Board member (rolling stock) Rajesh Agrawal said the railways had done strategic planning for the financial outlay and there would be no problem for funds.

"The annual rolling stock production volume is around 6000 to 8000 coaches per year. However, we need to prioritise the requirements of the various railway zones and try to meet their demands," Agrawal told reporters.

He said the demands of Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway and Kolkata Metro would be prioritised and new technologies would be introduced.

Regarding Kolkata Metro, he said there was an urgent need to replace the 100-odd condemned coaches with new ones immediately.

"Some new coaches have come and waiting for CRS (Commission of Railway Safety) permission. Hopefully, trials will start very shortly," he said.