Indian Railways' maximum emphasis on passenger safety, record allocation in budget
Indian Railways: This time, a special focus has been given to Indian Railways in the budget. The government is paying special attention to the safety of passengers along with the train. The government is preparing to put armor on the rail track which will be up to ten thousand km. Along with this, about 75 thousand crore rupees will be spent to build new tracks.
The increase in the number of train derailed incidents in recent days is a lesson that the railways have increased their focus on safety. In the general budget, the maximum expenditure of more than 40 percent of the total budget has been arranged on the safety of trains as well as passengers. Armor is to be installed on ten thousand km of rail track. More than 75 thousand crore rupees are to be spent on the construction of new tracks and double gauge tracks. Apart from this, emphasis will be laid on improving the signaling system, new technology, flyovers, and underpasses.
A record allocation of Rs 2,62,200 crore has been made in the general budget for the capital expenditure of railways during the financial year 2024-25. The gross budgetary support in the last financial year was Rs 2,40,200 crore, which is Rs 22 thousand crore more this time. Indian Railways has received such an amount for the first time. In the general budget of 2013-14, the railways got only Rs 28,174 crore.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has claimed that the provisions of this budget will help in making the railways world-class. Passenger safety remains a priority area for the railways. This can be gauged from the fact that out of the total allocated budget, Rs 1.08 lakh crore will be spent only on security management. The number of trains has to be increased on more crowded routes.
The Kavach system has been developed with indigenous technology to prevent moving trains from colliding with each other. Kavach-4.0 has been approved just two days ago. Electronic equipment is installed in the rail tracks along with the engine and signaling system to control the brakes of two trains and alert the drivers after they come on the same track. Optical fibers have been laid on a 4,275 km route so far to prevent trains from colliding. Kavach system has already been installed in 1,465 route kilometers and 121 engines of the South Central Railway. Agra division has installed a Kavach network on an 80 km track between Mathura and Palwal.
There has been an unprecedented pace in the construction of infrastructure. The railways aim to lay two thousand km of new tracks. Rs 17,652 crore has been allocated for the repair of tracks. Rs 4719.50 crore will be spent for gauge conversion and Rs 29 thousand 312.19 crore will be spent on the work of doubling single tracks. New railway lines will be laid with Rs 34 thousand 602 crore. During the last ten years, the railways have laid 31,180 km of tracks. 14.54 km of track is being laid every year, whereas in 2014-15 this figure was only four km per day.
Railways is also ready to be a partner in the economic development of the country. The work of reducing logistics costs has to be taken forward. Under this, a new approach has been adopted to organize the infrastructure. Multi-modal connectivity is being enabled. Three economic railway corridors are being built under the PM Gati Shakti Mission. In these, 192 projects will be taken on energy, mineral, and cement corridors. Similarly, 42 projects will be taken on the port connectivity corridor and 200 projects on the high traffic density corridor.
