Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has concluded her Union Budget 2024 speech in the Parliament, announcing investments for several sectors and states.
Addressing infrastructure, she announced a capital expenditure of Rs 11.11 lakh crore to support its development over the next five years, consistent with the allocation outlined in the Interim Budget earlier this year. Infrastructure is one of the nine priorities highlighted in today’s Union Budget announcement by the Finance Minister.
The FM was expected to make some major announcements for the Railways sector, however, it was hardly mentioned in her speech. It is crucial to note that the Economic Survey highlighted the achievements of the Indian Railways on July 22, including the upcoming Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, Vande Bharat Express trains, among other things.
Even though FM’s speech barely mentioned Railways, the Budget document shows an increase in the allocation in several areas of the sector.
Capex in last five years
The capital expenditure on the Railways has increased by 77% over the past five years, the survey said, adding that significant investments were made for the construction of new lines, gauge conversion and doubling.
It mentioned that the key focus areas for the Railways were fast capacity augmentation, modernisation of rolling stock, energy efficiency, and more.
Let’s take a look at the allocation various areas of the Railways sector
*The values are in crore
| Budget Estimates (2023-24) | Budget Estimates (2024-25) | |
| New Lines | 31,850 | 34,603 |
| Gauge conversion | 4,600 | 4,720 |
| Doubling | 30,749 | 29,312 |
| Rolling stock | 37,581 | 40,314 |
| Track renewals | 17,297 | 17,652 |
| Signaling and Telecom | 4,198 | 4,647 |
| Electrification projects | 8,070 | 6,742 |
| Customer amenities | 13,355 | 15,511 |