Budget raises capital outlay for Railways to Rs 1.31 lakh crore

Budget has raised capital outlay for the Railways from Rs 1.21 lakh crore in 2016-17 to Rs 1.31 lakh crore in 2017-18 with Rs 55,000 crores being provided by the government. Presenting is the first combined budget of independent India (that includes the railways), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “India is now in a position to synergise the investments in railways, roads, waterways and civil aviation.” 

According to Jaitley, railways will focus on four major areas, namely, passenger safety, capital and development works, cleanliness and finance and accounting reforms. For passenger safety, a ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ will be created with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crores over a period of 5 years, to be funded by seed capital from the government, Indian Railways’ own revenues and other sources. Further, Jaitley informed that the Government will lay down clear cut guidelines and timeline for implementing various safety works to be funded from this ‘Kosh’. Unmanned level crossings on broad gauge lines will be eliminated by 2020. Expert international assistance will be harnessed to improve safety preparedness and maintenance practices.