Funds for speeding up of trains and strengthening of tracks and bridges, especially on busy routes such as Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai and formation of a Railway Holding Company will be the highlights of proposals in the Budget 2017-18. Keeping the recent train accidents in mind, the finance minister Arun Jaitley would also announce a special safety fund of about Rs 20,000 crore for the fiscal 2017-18, sources said. Because the railway Budget is part of the general Budget this time, it will be announced by the finance minister and not the railway minister on February 1.
The Railways has sought Rs 1.19 lakh crore over the next five years from the government for safety upgradation of the rail network and the finance ministry is likely to grant Rs 20,000 crore in the first year, sources in railway ministry said.
The Railways has embarked on an ambitious project to speed up train movement in busy corridors, and accordingly has undertaken the arduous task of fencing the Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes at a cost of about Rs 45 lakh per km to run trains at 160 km per hour. A senior railway ministry official, who did not wish to be named, said fencing the entire route is crucial for running trains at 160 km per hour, which can be later raised to 200 km per hour. He said fencing these routes is an important subject in the Budget. The official said it was essential for preventing trespassing and cattle movement to ensure high speed and safety, and it will find prominent mention in the Budget.
Besides this, track and signalling upgradation and elimination of unmanned level-crossings along the way for the major trunk routes of Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah sections will be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 21,000 crore. According to the feasibility study, it is a remunerative project with both routes having a high rate of return. The rate of return for the Delhi-Howrah route is expected to be 18% and the rate of return for the Mumbai-Delhi route is likely to be 14.7%, the official said.
The Delhi-Mumbai section will cover the Baroda-Ahmedabad route and the Delhi-Howrah sector will also include the Kanpur-Lucknow corridor in the project. The two major trunk routes have been taken up in the first phase and later on the Howrah-Chennai and Mumbai-Chennai sectors will also be taken up, he said.
Sources said the railway Budget will have a two-page mention of Railways’s upcoming activities, including major projects, expenditure and revenue targets for the next fiscal. The national transporter is forming a holding company with net worth of Rs 34,000 crore comprising 14 railway PSUs including IRCTC, RITES, Concor, RailTel and MRVC, to leverage loans from the market with zero debt and also be a beneficiary in case of selling of the shares of its subsidiaries.
Source: dnaindia.com