A view of the Vande Bharat coach being produced at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. file | Photo credits: R. Ragu
With an outlay of ₹2.40 lakh crore for the financial year 2023-24 as compared to ₹1.40 lakh crore in the financial year 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the outlay for the Railways would be nine times the amount provided in 2013-2014. It is Guna.
The Railway Ministry was able to spend Rs 1.35 lakh crore in the financial year 2021-22, the budget document notes.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that due to less allocation to Railways in the past, the real potential of this sector could not be realised. “The current outlay will be beneficial for 800 crore passengers who travel by railways annually,” Mr Vaishnav said.
He said the higher outlay would be used to ramp up production of Vande Bharat trains, which would now be manufactured from four sites as opposed to the existing one site in Chennai. “Sonepat in Haryana, Rae Bareli in UP and Latur in Maharashtra will be added as manufacturing sites,” he added.
Mr Vaishnav said, “Eight Vande Bharat trains have now covered a distance equal to traveling along the circumference of the earth 52 times. So now we know that the product is well tested and stable. Now is the time to scale up the supply chain and production. At present we manufacture a Vande Bharat train in seven days. We want to increase it to two to three trains every week.
Shri Vaishnav informed that the operating ratio has stabilized at 98.22% as against 107.39% in 2021-22. Operating ratio is the amount that the railways has to spend to earn Rs 100. A lower operating ratio implies better financial health. “We expect this number to reduce further as the entire electrification process is complete – 85% of the railway network has been electrified,” he said.
He also said that the fully hydrogen-powered train will be ready by December 2023 and will be first run on the Kalka-Shimla heritage circuit. The Ministry of Railways is developing economic and social corridors through the railway network: “These corridors will target hilly areas, port areas, tribal areas through the Tribes Pride corridor,” he said.
On the work on the bullet train, the first of which will run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, is not projected to become operational before 2026, Mr Vaishnav said the previous Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra had made it difficult to get approval for the project. “Now the government has changed and getting approvals has become easier,” he said.