₹13,539 crore allocation for Maharashtra will have a good impact: Ministry of Railways

Addressing a press conference via video link from Delhi, Vaishnav said the allocation in the 2023-24 budget for Maharashtra was 11 times the average allocation between 2009 and 2014.

Vaishnav reiterated the allegation that the bullet train project had not received any approval from the state government when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister, adding that the central government was getting good cooperation from the Eknath Shinde-led government.

“The deadline for (completion) of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is August 2026,” he said.

Read also: From hydrogen trains to expansion of Vande Bharat: What Indian Railways got in Budget 2023

He said that the production of Vande Bharat Express trains has increased and one train is being prepared in 7 to 9 days. “We will modernize and redevelop 123 stations in Maharashtra. Tenders will be opened for CSMT (in Mumbai) by the end of March. Preliminary pre-work has already started,” Vaishnav said.

Earlier on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had made the highest ever increase in capital outlay for Railways. 2.40 lakh crores. This is the highest ever outlay, which is almost 9 times of the outlay made in the year 2013-14.

Along with this, 1275 railway stations of the country will be redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.

The Finance Minister said that the construction of the country’s first fully developed hydrogen train in India will be completed by December 2023. In the first phase, hydrogen trains will be operated on heritage lines like Kalka-Shimla etc. Along with this, bullet train project will also be started in Maharashtra.

Presently Vande Bharat trains are manufactured at Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Perambur, which will be expanded and manufacturing units of Vande Bharat made operational at three more locations namely Sonepat in Haryana, Latur in Maharashtra and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh Will go

With PTI inputs.