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NEW DELHI: In 2022, when the government was battling high inflation it had announced plans to have a detailed strategy for sectors such as cement. Industry feedback was that in the south, cement producers had excess capacity and could use it provided they got raw material from other parts of the country. But the lack of capacity with Indian Railways did not result in the plan being finalised.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman budget proposals on Thursday talk about a dedicated cement corridor as part of the ‘Energy Economic Corridor’; ‘Rail Sagar Corridor’ to link ports and ‘Amrit Chaturbhuj’ for multi-tracking of seven busiest corridors. These corridors with a total length of 40,000 km rail track will entail an investment of Rs 11 crore over nine years, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.
Vaishnaw said 434 projects will be implemented under this mega plan to increase the capacity for running more trains and to eliminate the problem of wait-listed tickets. “All these corridors will reduce air pollution and bring down logistics costs. These projects have been finalised after detailed study and rounds of discussion with stakeholders. Proper and detailed studies of origin and destination (OD) of goods and passengers were carried out for finalising the corridors,” he said.
The minister also said the national transporter will roll out the first set of 10 Vande Bharat trains with sleeper facilities for test runs by March end.
TOI on October 23 had first reported about the railway ministry proposal for seeking Rs 4.2 lakh crore approval from the cabinet for Amrit Chaturbhuj plan to decongest Delhi-Howrah, Mumbai-Howrah, Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Guwahati, Delhi-Chennai, Howrah-Chennai and Mumbai-Chennai corridors and upgrade them for introduction of faster passenger trains and quicker movement of goods.
Vaishnaw said some of the proposals are at an advanced stage for obtaining approval of the Cabinet.
On the FM’s announcement of the railways plan for converting 40,000 normal rail bogies (coaches) to the Vande Bharat standards to enhance safety, convenience and comfort of passengers, Vaishnaw said this will require around Rs 15,0000 crore investment in the next five years. “The Budget has laid the blueprint for the railway sector. There is a clear roadmap for creating more infrastructure to run more trains and also to have better trains for passengers’ comfort and safety,” the minister said.
With regard to the railways’ earnings vis-a-vis operational expenditure, known as Operating Ratio (OR), the minister said this year it’s around 98.7 and for 2024-25, it’s projected to be 98. The Budget document shows that railways is likely to record the maximum ever revenue from passenger segment at Rs 73,000 crore by March end, surpassing the Budget Estimate (BE). However, the revenue from freight transportation may fall short of the BE by Rs 10,000 crore.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman budget proposals on Thursday talk about a dedicated cement corridor as part of the ‘Energy Economic Corridor’; ‘Rail Sagar Corridor’ to link ports and ‘Amrit Chaturbhuj’ for multi-tracking of seven busiest corridors. These corridors with a total length of 40,000 km rail track will entail an investment of Rs 11 crore over nine years, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.
Vaishnaw said 434 projects will be implemented under this mega plan to increase the capacity for running more trains and to eliminate the problem of wait-listed tickets. “All these corridors will reduce air pollution and bring down logistics costs. These projects have been finalised after detailed study and rounds of discussion with stakeholders. Proper and detailed studies of origin and destination (OD) of goods and passengers were carried out for finalising the corridors,” he said.
The minister also said the national transporter will roll out the first set of 10 Vande Bharat trains with sleeper facilities for test runs by March end.
TOI on October 23 had first reported about the railway ministry proposal for seeking Rs 4.2 lakh crore approval from the cabinet for Amrit Chaturbhuj plan to decongest Delhi-Howrah, Mumbai-Howrah, Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Guwahati, Delhi-Chennai, Howrah-Chennai and Mumbai-Chennai corridors and upgrade them for introduction of faster passenger trains and quicker movement of goods.
Vaishnaw said some of the proposals are at an advanced stage for obtaining approval of the Cabinet.
On the FM’s announcement of the railways plan for converting 40,000 normal rail bogies (coaches) to the Vande Bharat standards to enhance safety, convenience and comfort of passengers, Vaishnaw said this will require around Rs 15,0000 crore investment in the next five years. “The Budget has laid the blueprint for the railway sector. There is a clear roadmap for creating more infrastructure to run more trains and also to have better trains for passengers’ comfort and safety,” the minister said.
With regard to the railways’ earnings vis-a-vis operational expenditure, known as Operating Ratio (OR), the minister said this year it’s around 98.7 and for 2024-25, it’s projected to be 98. The Budget document shows that railways is likely to record the maximum ever revenue from passenger segment at Rs 73,000 crore by March end, surpassing the Budget Estimate (BE). However, the revenue from freight transportation may fall short of the BE by Rs 10,000 crore.
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