Budget 2021 Rail Infra Push: FM Provides Rs 1.1 Lakh Crore For Railways, Announces New Dedicated Freight Corridors

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In a big boost to the improvement of Railway infrastructure in the country, Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman provided a record 1.1 lakh crores for Railways of which 1.7 lakh crores is dedicated for capital expenditure.

And in an effort to decrease logistics cost and aid the domestic manufacturing industry, FM announced the East Coast Freight Corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada, East – West Freight Corridor from Bhusawal to Kharagpur to Dankuni and North – South Freight Corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada.

This will aid ‘National Rail Plan – 2030’ prepared by the Ministry of Railways for creation of a future ready railway infrastructure for India.

The Finance Minister in her budget speech has reiterated that decreasing the logistics cost to help ‘Make In India’ is at the core of Modi government’s priority.

Minister said that both Western and Eastern dedicated freight corridors will be commissioned by June 2022. The minister further announced additional initiatives including 263 kms Somnagar-Gomo section under Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and 274 kms long Gomo-Dankuni section in succession.

Government also announced that 100 per cent electrification of broad gauge routes will be completed by December 2023.

For passenger safety and convenience, FM announced the introduction of Vistadome coaches in all routes connecting tourist spots. Increasing the safety efforts, high density routes will be provided with an indigenously developed automatic train protection system that eliminates train collision due to human error.