 "Vande Bharat")
For the financial year 2025-26, the Ministry of Railways has added projects worth Rs 4.6 trillion in its development programme, which will be executed over the next few financial years.
These will include major works in capacity expansion and important rolling stock works, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.
According to the minister, the railways decided to add 100 Amrit Bharat trains to its fleet, in addition to the 50 which had been announced last year. ALSO READ: Budget will spur investment, growth in tourism sector, says industry
These fully non-air-conditioned trains are the Centre’s proposed solution for the mass transit woes which have been plaguing low income passengers.
“We will also execute 50 Namo Bharat trains, which are extremely successful. It has been certified to run at 130 kmph, so we will be connecting many more short-distance cities. Moreover, we will be developing 200 Vande Bharat trains, which will be a combination of sleeper and chair car train sets,” Vaishnaw said.
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These 200 are the trainsets which had been stuck in the pipeline following disagreements between the Ministry of Railways and Russian rolling stock manufacturer Transmashholding after the national transporter asked for a modification in design and coaches.
The railways has kept its passenger volumes target for the upcoming financial year at 7.57 billion, while it has also revised its FY25 passenger projections downward from 7.46 billion to 7.2 billion.
The government has also revised its freight estimates downward for FY25 from 1650 million tonnes (mt) in the budget estimates to 1635 mt in the revised estimates. For FY26, this target has been kept at 1700 mt.
Freight traffic and revenue are expected to grow at 4 per cent, which is much lower than the required compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 per cent if the railways wants to meet its targets under the Mission 3000 — 3000 mt of freight by 2030.
The railways will spend Rs 1.16 trillion on safety in the upcoming financial year, Vaishnaw said, adding that work on installing Kavach on 10,000 locomotives and 15,000 kilometres on the railway network is going on.
“Around 17500 general coaches will be added to the railway inventory going forward. For the current financial year, around 1,200 general coaches have already been manufactured, which will be around 1,400 by the end of FY25. This pace will be sustained so that the issues concerning general class travellers can be addressed fully,” Vaishnaw said.
Part of these coaches will be developed to add capacity, while the rest will be developed to replace aging coaches, the minister said.
National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) General Secretary M Raghavaiah said the Budget proposals are aimed at privatisation at a faster pace so as to monetise government assets and handing them over to private players.
