Railways minister Nitish Kumar has succumbed to political pressure for spending more on gauge conversion in backward regions which has been the cause for tardy growth in the more revenue generating lines connecting the four metros.
In the "full" budget presented in Parliament yesterday, the allocation for gauge conversion has risen over that in the interim budget by Rs 311 crore to Rs 803 crore. There is, however, a drop when compared with the revised estimate of Rs 1,185 crore in 1997-98.
The provision for track renewal stands at Rs 1,960 crore, up Rs 280 crore from the Rs 1,680 crore in the previous budget.
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Gauge conversion, which was launched in a big way under former railway minister Jafar Sharif, is considered to be the main reason for poor investments in areas like the high-density routes from where the railways draw their earnings.
The announcement on high allocation to gauge conversion comes two days after the white paper released by railway minister said that investments in unremunerative projects should either be frozen or funded outside the railway budget by the central government.
As a result, the railways have not been able to provide sufficient funds for doubling of lines in the high density routes and purchase of rolling stock. An amount of Rs 513 crore has been allocated for line doubling, an increase of Rs 110 crore over the interim budget and Rs 241 crore over the 1997-98 budget.
Rolling stock has been allocated Rs 1,590 crore, an increase of Rs 69 crore over the interim budget and Rs 517 crore over the revised estimates of 1997-98.
The budget allocates Rs 496.75 crore for lying new lines. This represents an increase of Rs 196.86 crore over the interim budget and Rs 127.25 crore over the revised estimates of 1997-98.
Workshops and production units of the railways will get an additional Rs 55 crore. The provision is Rs 176 crore as compared to Rs 121 crore in the interim budget and Rs 119.85 crore in RE 1997-98.
The budget has also increased the allocation for signaling and telecommunications by Rs 50 crore against the allocation of Rs 311.40 crore made in the interim budget.
The new allocation is Rs 361.40, up from Rs 221.75 crore in last year's budget.
There is also an increase of Rs 35 crore in the provision for metropolitan projects from Rs 216 crore in interim budget to Rs 251 crore. But this is much higher than last year's provision of Rs 152 crore.
On the whole, the railways will be spending Rs 6600 crore on different investment heads as compared to Rs 5420 crore last year.
An additional amount of Rs 20 crore has been allocated for improving passenger amenities for which the allocation is Rs 100 crore as compared to Rs 80 crore in interim budget and Rs 80.47 crore in the 1997-98 (RE) budget.