New Delhi: Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said the gross budgetary allocation for railway infrastructure projects in the northeast for the financial year 2024-25 is Rs 10,369 crore, which is 388 per cent higher as compared to average budget allocation of Rs 2,122 crore during 2009-14. He said that a capital outlay of over Rs 2.5 lakh crore has been provided in the interim Union Budget for the country’s biggest transport facilitator.
During an interaction with media persons from the northeast in the national capital on the fund allocation in the vote-on-account budget for the Railways, the Union Minister said three major railway corridor programmes, as announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech, will be implemented. These are energy, mineral and cement corridors.
“The cement corridor, port-connectivity corridor and high-traffic density corridor will improve logistics efficiency and reduce transportation cost, which will further lend itself to improving passenger safety as well. The Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) said a total of 40,000 normal railway coaches will be converted to ‘Vande Bharat’ standards,” Guwahati-based Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of the Northeast Frontier railway (NF Railway), Sabyasachi De, stated in a press release on Thursday.
The Railways Minister informed that as many as 60 stations in the northeast are being redeveloped with world class amenities and facilities.
He added that the ‘One Station One Product’ (OSOP) stalls operational all over the NF Railway are providing a direct selling market to the locally produced items which are getting a good response from passengers.
Further during the interaction with media persons, Vaishnaw said physical progress of all the ongoing projects in the Northeast are advancing at a good pace.
“Despite being in the Himalayan region and running through tough terrains, project works are going on a round the clock basis for early completion,” CPRO De added in the release.
“This year’s budget allocation shows unprecedented growth in several segments including new line and doubling projects, track renewal works, traffic facilities, road safety works, bridge works, signalling, workshop modernisation and customer amenities among others. The Railway Minister also informed that an investment of Rs 81,941 crore is being done in the entire northeastern region for development of railway infrastructure,” CPRO De further stated in the release.