NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asserted Wednesday that ample outlays have been made in the Union Budget for massive development in railway infrastructure and services across all states and UTs, including six Opposition-ruled states such as Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
“The government has made a huge capital allocation for railways in the Budget at over Rs 2.65 lakh crore for 2024-25. Out of this, an allocation of Rs 1.08 lakh crore has been made exclusively for safety works,” he said.
The Opposition-ruled states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Jharkhand have been given due consideration in the allocations, he said.
The response came on a day when Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee slammed the BJP-led NDA government over the recent train accidents. Vaishaw said his ministry has focused on technology, operational changes and training to significantly improve train travel.
Citing data, he said 13 railway stations of Delhi division will be redeveloped under the ‘Amrit Bharat’ scheme. These are Adarsh Nagar Delhi, Anand Vihar, Bijwasan, Old Delhi, Delhi Cantt, Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Delhi Shahdara, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Narela, New Delhi, Sabzi Mandi, Safdarjung and Tilak Bridge.
Vaishnaw said that an outlay of Rs 7,559 crore has gone to Karnataka, Rs 6,362 crore to Tamil Nadu, Rs 5,336 crore for Telangana, Rs 9,151 crore for AP, Rs 13,941 crore for West Bengal, Rs 7,302 crore for Jharkhand, Rs 3,011 crore for Kerala, Rs 5,147 crore for Punjab. All these are Opposition-ruled states.
In Bihar, 92 stations would be developed as Amrit stations. Meanwhile, the Centre has allocated a whopping fund of Rs 1,112.57 crore in the railway’s total budget for the installations of ‘Kavach’ in 2024-25, Vaishnaw said Lok Sabha.
“Kavach aids the loco pilot in train running within specified speed limits by automatic application of brakes in case a loco pilot fails to do so and also helps the train to run safely during inclement weather”.
The minister said the implementation of Kavach involves execution of many activities, such as the installation of Station Kavach at each station, installation of RFID tags throughout the track length, installation of telecom towers throughout the section, laying optical fibre cable along the track and provision of loco Kavach on each locomotive.