Every year, our honorable Finance Minister presents a railway budget 2024. This year also our Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman had presented her sixth Budget on 1st February at 11 PM in the Parliament, 2024. We all understand the fact that Indian Railways is known as the backbone of the Indian Economy. Our economy generates a large amount of revenue from Indian Railways. Hence, every year the government tries to develop the Railway system of India. This year also certain decisions are taken by the government in Railway Budget 2024 for Indian Railways.
According to the Railway Minister, Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw, “ Railway Budget 2024 will bring a major transformation in Railways”. It is said that the budget for Indian Railways has been tremendously increased from Rs. 14,000 crores to Rs. 2,52,000 crores by keeping in view the requirement and development of modernization in Railways. The Honourable Railway Minister had said that the Railways had developed so far in the past few years. In this, Railway Budget 2024 the government is also planning to introduce new schemes and initiatives for the development of the Indian Railways. Here in this blog, we’re going to discuss some of the most important Indian Railways highlights of Budget 2024.
Railway Budget 2024 Highlights
The Indian government had announced the implementation of three major economic corridor programs that mainly aimed at enhancing logistics efficiency and reducing costs. Our Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman, in her budget speech, mentioned that the center will implement 3 major economic railway corridors programs,
- Energy Mineral and Cement Corridor – It is also referred to as Energy Economic Corridor
- Port Connectivity Corridors or Rail Sagar
- High Traffic density corridor or Amrit Chaturbhuj
These big corridors will be similar to the golden quadrilateral. It is also said that around 40,000 Km of new track in 3 corridors will be laid. This program of making three major corridors will be identified under the PM Gati Shakti Initiative. According to the Indian Government, this project will surely bring change in Indian Railways by providing easy accommodation of 1000 crore passengers in comparison to 700 crore passengers at present. One corridor prioritizes high-density passenger traffic routes while facilitating the movement of goods and people.
New Coaches for Vande Bharata Express
In Railway Budget 2024, it is mentioned that a total of 40000 will be upgraded to Standard. Apart from that, Sleeper version of Vande Bharata Express will be in service very soon. In coming years, the Railway Ministry is planning to provide the passengers better travelling facilities just like Vande Bharata Express. This entire process is expected to cost a total Rs. 15,200 crores.
Enhancing Safety measures and Upgrading Rail Infrastructures
- We all understand the importance of hygiene in our daily life. Sometimes passengers face unhygienic washroom conditions in trains or also on station as well. Hence, government is planning to make good quality toilets in trains and also on railway stations
- Installation of CCTV cameras, GPS, Charging points, automatic water measurement system for filling up the tanks, presence of charging points etc. These services on trains will be installed shortly.
The Bullet Train Project
The National High Speed Rail Corridor Limited has attracted the maximum chunk of allocation, up from total Rs.19,592 crores to Rs. 25,000 crores. According to the Railway Ministry, the implementation of this project will surely reduce the travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad from 5 to 6 hours to 3 hours.
Enhancing the Metro Network in India
The Government had also focused on enhancing the Metro Network in India as well in the Railway Budget 2024. It is said that the metro network in India carries a total of 1 crore people on a daily basis. Hence, the Government had taken the decision to expand the metro lines in different cities. It is expected that India is going to have the world’s second-largest metro network soon.
The government is planning to expand Namo Bharat and Metro Rail Network in other cities as well. These are some of the important highlights of the Railway Budget 2024. We can’t ignore the fact that Indian Railways had improved dramatically in the last 10 years, by being in guidance of our honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. This year also, the government is planning more development for the Railway System.
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