Substantial increase in budget allocation to several states: Vaishnaw

According to Vaishnaw, when a comparison is drawn with 2009-2014, the average budgetary allocation for the next financial year 2025-26 is 27 times higher for Delhi, and 23 times for MP among others

There is a substantial increase in budgetary allocations to all the states for 2025-26 as compared to that of between 2009-14 for the development of rail infrastructure, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday.

Presenting a state-wise break up of the budgetary allocation for railways and the pace of development of rail infrastructure, Vaishnaw said that while railways was moving at a snail's pace before 2014, it has made historic progress in the past ten years during the NDA rule.

Holding separate interaction with media persons and senior officials of respective divisions and zones via video conferencing, Vaishnaw provided a detailed update of various significant aspects and progress status of projects.

According to Vaishnaw, when a comparison is drawn with 2009-2014, the average budgetary allocation for the next financial year 2025-26 is 27 times higher for Delhi, 23 times for MP and 22 times for Chhattisgarh.

While the annual average budget for Bihar was Rs 1,132 crore between 2009-2014, it has been increased nine times to 10,066 for the coming financial year of 2025-26, the minister said, adding similar significant enhancement for other states.

Similarly, Vaishnaw said Delhi's annual average budget used to be Rs 96 crore between 2009-14, which has been exponentially increased to 2,539 for FY 2025-26.

Highlighting the progress made in the field of electrification, Vaishnaw said that many states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi have achieved 100 per cent electrification and the rail network will get completely electrified by the end of this financial year.

The minister also emphasised the progress made in laying of new tracks and said that the work is going at a much higher speed than it used to be 10 years back.

Railways has constructed 1,832 km of new tracks in Bihar since 2014 which is almost equal to the entire rail network of Malaysia, Vaishnaw said while addressing the railway officials and media persons from East Central Railways.

Talking about the speed of construction of metro in Kolkata (West Bengal), he said that from 1972 to 2014, only 28 km metro connectivity was provided, adding, however, 31 km work has been completed and made operational from 2014 till date.

The minister also provided an update regarding ongoing installation of Automatic Train Protection system Kavach and said that tender has been either awarded or is in advance stage in several zones.

In the next six years, Kavach will be installed on the entire rail network of the country. Installation of Kavach loco, one of the components for rail engines, is going on on 10,000 locos, Vaishnaw said.

He touched upon the ongoing station redevelopment programme in each state with details of the status of progress.

Besides, the minister spoke on the number of Vande Bharat trains running in each state, passenger amenities, rail flyovers and under-bridges constructed since 2014 among others.