Railway Budget for Uttar Pradesh 2018: The most populated state of the country, Uttar Pradesh has seen a growth of 593% in its Railway budget allocation from an average of Rs 1,109 crore between 2009-14 to a total outlay of Rs 7,685 crore in 2018-19. Under union budget 2018-19, Modi government has announced many game changing projects to enhance UP’s Railway network. The Union Budget 2018-19 was announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley on February 1 in the parliament. This was the last full budget of the Modi government ahead of Lok Sabha polls 2019, and a record total capital expenditure of Rs 1.48 lakh crore was announced for Indian Railways.
For Uttar Pradesh, 9 doubling projects will cost around Rs 7,988 crore. The doubling projects will involve around 581 km, which will include the distance between Phaphamau to Unnao via Kunda Harnamganj of 200 km and New Coaching complex and Kanpur of around 3 km. The Modi government has also announced a provision for 4th line between Dholpur, Jahnsi and Beena, covering a distance of about 322 km. Chipiyana Buzurg to Dadri connecting Down loop of Maripat and holding line of Dadri in connection with DFC of 12 km, and Allahabad to Bumrauli flying over at Subedarganj and connecting to UP loop of Bumrauli of 10 km has also been declared in Union Budget 2018.
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The government has also announced provision for 3rd line between Ruma Chakeri- Chandari in connection with DFC of around 13 km, and Aligarh Junction- Daud Khan parallel to UP line and construction of flyover at Daudkhan connecting DN loop line of Daudkhan to common loop of New Daudkhan (DFC) of around 7 km. Currently, there are 73 on going railway projects in Uttar Pradesh, worth Rs 64,279 crore. These projects are under the execution phase and cover a length of around 6,475 km.
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Like Budget 2017-18, this year too a merged budget was presented in the parliament as the 92 year old tradition of presenting the Railway budget and the general budget separately was eliminated by the Modi government. The decision of combining both the budgets was based on Committee recommendations, headed by NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy. The budget for Railways 2018 emphasized on passenger safety, installation of Wifi and CCTVs, electrification of Indian Railways, new signalling system, high speed trains, redevelopment of stations etc.
