'Investment boom': PM Narendra Modi flags off Rs 41K cr rail works

Says consumption rose by 2.5x in 10 years, talks of India's achievements

Indian Railways, through its ongoing modernisation, will be the source of massive investment in the next five years, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi said in New Delhi, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“India is one of the most promising investment destinations in the world today, and modern infrastructure is one of the biggest reasons for that. In the next five years, when thousands of railway stations have been modernised, the capabilities of Indian Railways will increase, triggering an investment boom,” the PM said in his address as he flagged off and laid the foundation stone for 2,000 rail projects worth Rs 41,000 crore.

 

The projects include several stations meant to undergo redevelopment after the laying of the foundation stone, and allied infrastructure such as road over bridges and road under bridges.

So far, 1,321 stations of 7,000 have been selected by the railways for redevelopment. Many of them are at different stages of construction. Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw credited the progress to the PM Gati Shakti framework, which has consolidated several operations that earlier took place in silos.

In response to a question regarding deficiencies in rail facilities, Vaishnaw said that a lot of work will be done to address this “in Modi 3.0”. He was briefing the media on the progress of works identified under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.

“It is complex work to build world-class stations, but the government undertook several reforms to implement these schemes. Also, massive work is going on at all stations irrespective of their sizes and places,” he said.

The Centre had also earlier approved the redevelopment of three mega stations in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Delhi at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore. While work is underway on the first two, the Ministry of Railways has had to cancel the tender for the New Delhi Railway station twice due to absence of consensus on the price.

The ministry may have to break up the large order, estimated by bidders of the first tender at around Rs 9,000 crore — 90 per cent of the sanctioned amount for three stations.

“Indian Railways is not just a passenger facility but is also the biggest carrier of India’s agricultural and industrial progress,” Modi said at the event.

Ahead of polls, the PM also said that railway modernisation has been possible due to a lack of corruption and leakages in government departments, and added that the scale and standards of development today were unimaginable 10 years ago.

‘Fast delivery new normal for world’
 

Citing data to assert poverty in India at its lowest, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said consumption rose by 2.5 times in a decade.  The world no longer feels surprised at India’s achievements as it has become a new normal now and they today realise the benefit of walking alongside the country, he said at a global summit organised by TV9 News Network.