Indian Railways has invested over one lakh crore in various ongoing infrastructure and safety projects across the country till July in the current financial year of 2023-24. Railway sources said it was for the first time that the capex utilisation had crossed the mark of a lakh crore during the first four months of the financial year.
For the FY 23-24, the gross budgetary support is ₹2,60,200 crore. “So far between April and July, the Railways has already invested and utilised approximately 40% of the gross budgetary support, which is ₹1,01,796 crore,” official sources in the Railways said.
In the last FY 22-23, the gross budgetary support allocated for the Railways was ₹2,03,983 crore. “Last year, till July 2022, total capex utilisation was ₹63,887 crore, which is 31% of the allocation,” the sources added.
The investment was made in various infrastructure projects such as laying new lines, doubling, gauge conversion, enhancing passenger amenities and improving safety related works.
Augmenting capacity of network
While ₹ 1 lakh crore was invested in augmenting capacity of network during FY 22-23 through the whole year, this mark has been crossed in the first four months of FY 23-24.
Till April 2023, the Railways has achieved commissioning of new lines and doubling, multi-tracking of 5,243 km. Also, up to 6,565 km of track have been electrified with an investment of ₹6,657 crore.
Higher investments in the Dedicated Freight Corridor (₹14,900 crore) and Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train (₹12,000 crore) in FY 22-23 have been augmented in FY 23-24.
Total investment of ₹25,913 crore was made towards safety in strengthening tracks, bridges, grade separators, the sources said.
Also, major expenditure has been on Vande Bharat trains. Till April 2023, wagon procurement jumped by 77.6% over previous year to 22,747 wagons. Modern rolling stock of ₹44,291 crore was procured for better passenger comfort and for augmenting the loading capacity.
