Railways to spend over 50% of Rs1,48,528-cr FY19 budget allocation on safety

The union budget for 2018-19 proposes to transform Indian Railways into a modern, safe, green, affordable and comfortable mode of transport, scaling up investments by almost three times to Rs1,48,528 crore in 2018-19 against Rs53,989 crore in 2013-14.

Over 50 per cent of the 2018-19 annual railway budget (Rs73,065 crore) has been allocated for expenditure on rail safety programmes.

Union minister for railways and coal Piyush Goyal said the government is drastically scaling up investments by almost three times to Rs1,46,500 crore in 2018-19 as against Rs53,989 crore in 2013-14 to reduce accumulated backlog in capacity creation.

Goyal pointed out that this is 22 per cent higher than 2017-18 (RE), and includes budgetary support of Rs53,060 crore and internal resources of Rs11,500 crore. IRFC will raise Rs28,500 crore while Rs26,440 crore will come as institutional finance (LIC) and another Rs27,000 crore will come as investment through PPP.

Briefing the media persons, the minister explained that government has provided Rs19,40 crore towards reimbursement of losses on operation of strategic lines and Rs88 crore towards reimbursement of operational cost of e-ticketing to IRCTC.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech has laid out a roadmap for Indian Railways, which is in line with the government's decision to transform the Railways into a modern, safe, green, affordable and comfortable mode of transport.

Railways plans to electrify the entire network in a phased manner, besides modernising stations and improving passenger amenities, with 600 stations developed with world class facilities.

Escalators will be provided at all stations with passenger footfall above 25,000. Stations and trains will be provided with Wi-Fi facility for information and entertainment. CCTV cameras will be provided across all stations and trains for security.

Apart from elimination of unmanned level crossings on all busy routes and shift to production of safer LHB coaches, there is focus on track renewal with the highest ever outlay ever.

The total expenditure planned on safety activities, including Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK), is Rs68,725 crore in 2017-18 (RE) and Rs73,065 cr in 2018-19 (BE). The RRSK will comprise Rs5,000 crore from capital (budgetary support), Rs10,000 crore from Railway Safety Fund received as Railways' share from Central Road fund and Rs5,000 crore from Railways' revenue.

The budget provides Rs11,000 crore for improved suburban services to Mumbai with 90 km line doubling and Rs40,000 crore for 150 km additional lines for enhancing transportation and expansion of suburban railway network.

In Bengalure, 160 km of suburban network costing Rs17,000 cr will be taken up to reduce congestion and save commuting time of passengers.

The budget also provides for setting up a Rail University at Vadodara.

Total revenue receipts of the Railways in 2018-19 (BE) are estimated to increase by 7 per cent to Rs2,01,090 crore while total revenue expenditure is estimated to increase by 4 per cent to Rs1,88,100 crore.

Operating ratio of 2018-19 (BE) is estimated at 92.8 per cent as against 96 per cent in 2017-18 (RE).