Govt allocates Rs 10,376 crore for NE Railway development, plans to revamp 60 stations

New Delhi: The Union government has allocated Rs 10,376 crore for the development of railways in the northeastern region, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted during a press conference in Delhi on Wednesday.

Ashwini Vaishnaw also informed that the Railway Ministry is working on revamping 60 railway stations in the northeastern region to transform them into Amrit Stations.

“For the entire northeastern region this year, an allocation of Rs 10,376 crore has been made. As you are aware, 60 stations are being redeveloped in the northeastern region with the aim to make them Amrit Stations,” said the minister.

On the railway budget allocation, the Union Railway Minister also added that this year a total budget outlay of Rs 2,62,200 crore for the railway budget has been allocated and thanked PM Narendra Modi and FM Nirmala Sitharaman for the allocation.

For the Jammu and Kashmir region, the minister informed that a total of Rs 3,694 crore has been allocated this year for ongoing projects in the region. He also informed that work on 4 stations is underway, including Badgam Station, Jammu Tawi Station, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Station, and Udhampur Station.

In Uttarakhand, Rs 5,131 crore has been allocated for railway projects. The minister stated that the Karnaprayag project is important. It has a 213 km long tunnel, out of which 171 km is already complete.

He also added that the two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) used in this project are named ‘Shiv’ and ‘Shakti’. This tunnel project will be completed by mid-2026.

The minister shared that 128 railway stations are going to be redeveloped in Maharashtra under the Amrit Bharat scheme, and 100 percent electrification of railway infrastructure in Maharashtra has been completed.

For railway projects in Madhya Pradesh, the central government has allocated Rs 14,738 crore, and projects worth more than Rs 80,000 crore are ongoing in Madhya Pradesh.

The minister also highlighted that in the last ten years, railways have developed differently compared to the past 60 years. He informed that almost 96 percent of the railway network is electrified, and 31,000 km of new railway tracks have been constructed in the last ten years.

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2024-25 in Parliament on Tuesday. For FY 2024-25, the government has allocated a record Capex of Rs 2,62,200 crore for railways, and the gross budgetary support is Rs 2,52,200 crore.

The railways have also achieved several milestones in infrastructure. In the past ten years, the pace of track laying increased from 4 km per day in 2014-15 to 14.54 km per day in 2023-24. During 2014-2024, IR has electrified 41,655 Route Kms (RKMs) compared to only 21,413 Route Kms in 2014.