Railways plan a 5 per cent hike in investment at Rs 13,123 crore (Rs 131.23 billion) this fiscal despite no major revenue enhancement from freight and passenger sections.
Bulk of the expenditure for this year goes to track renewals and construction of new lines and rolling stocks, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said in his maiden Budget.
The previous Railway Minister Nitish Kumar had, in the Interim Budget, projected an investment outlay of Rs 12,450 crore (Rs 124.50 billion).
Of the Rs 13,123 crore (Rs 131.23 billion) investment, track renewals are expected to get Rs 3,370 crore (Rs 33.70 billion), higher than Rs 3,295 crore (Rs 32.95 billion) earmarked by Kumar.
Today's Budget has projected an investment of Rs 1,411 crore (Rs 14.11 billion) for the rolling stock, substantially higher than the Rs 1,150 crore (Rs 11.50 billion) estimated in the Interim Budget in January.
The construction of new lines has been given renewed thrust with an investment outlay of Rs 1,236.07 crore (Rs 12.36 billion), much higher than the Rs 965.10 crore (Rs 9.65 billion) estimated by the NDA government.
The areas of consistency in the estimates of NDA and UPA governments included gauge conversion, passenger amenities, computerisation, track machines, level crossings, signaling and telecommunication works, electrification projects, machinery and plant and transfer to Special Railway Fund.
The areas where the UPA government cut investment as compared to the Interim Budget of the NDA regime, included restoration of dismantled lines, locomotives, wagons and metropolitan transport projects.
