QuickTake: Railways gets Rs 1.58 L Cr in Budget, highest ever for national transporter
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday announced a capital expenditure allocation of Rs 1.58 lakh crore for the Railways in the Budget, the highest ever for the national transporter, in an effort to put its flagging revenues back on track.
Last year, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had allocated an amount of Rs 1.48 lakh crore for the Railways in his Budget.
Goyal, who is also the Railways Minister, said 2018-2019 has so far been the safest for the Indian Railways, and all unmanned level crossings on the broad gauge network have been completely eliminated.
"Capital expenditure programme of the Railways is at an all-time high of Rs 1.58 lakh crore. Vande Bharat Express, an indigenously developed semi-high speed train, will give Indian passengers a world-class experience," he said.
"This major leap in wholly-developed technology by our engineers will give an impetus to the 'Make in India' programme and create jobs," he said in his debut Budget speech.
The Budget estimates under revenue for the year 2019-20 (gross) is Rs 2,72,705.68 crore, recording an increase of Rs 22,854.67 crore over the revised estimates of Rs 2,49,851.01 crore for 2018-19.
In the Budget, funds of Rs 7,255 crore have been allocated for construction of new lines, Rs 2,200 crore for gauge conversion, Rs 700 crore for doubling, Rs 6,114.82 crore for rolling stock and Rs 1,750 crore for signalling and telecom.
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Goyal also announced that the operating ratio for the current fiscal has improved to 96.2 percent, and in the next financial year the aim will be to lower it to 95 percent.
No railway fare hike was announced in the Railway Budget for 2019. Lok Sabha elections are slated to be held in April-May.
The planned expenditure would be a 148 percent hike from the levels of 2014.
Developing passenger amenities has been allocated a sum of Rs 3,422 crore, which is an additional outlay of around Rs 1,000 crore for the comfort of rail users.