Railways to spend Rs 1.08 lakh cr to boost safety

New Delhi: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday said the national transporter will spend Rs 1.08 lakh crore to boost safety in the 2024-25 financial year.

The ministry will build more railway over bridges, foot over bridges and railway under bridges, he told the media here.

The minister also said that rollout of Kavach would be expedited. The Kavach 4.0 safety system was approved last week, he said, adding that 4,275 kms of optical fibres have been laid down for the anti-collision system.

Vaishnaw's statement assumes significance following a series of railway accidents in the past few months.

Kavach has already been implemented on 1,465 route km and 121 locomotives, but mostly in the South Central Railway zone. Besides, the Agra division has developed a complete Kavach network on the 80-km stretch between Mathura (excluding the station) and Palwal to conduct trials on various types of engines and trains.

"With the help of this budget allocation, projects such as Vande Metro, Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat will also get covered," said the minister.

To meet the demand from general passengers, the minister said 10,000 extra general coaches will be manufactured.

The operating ratio target of the railways for 2024-25 has been set as 98.22 per cent from 98.65 per cent in 2023-24.

Though there was no mention of the railways in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech, the public-sector transporter has been allocated funds to the tune of Rs 2.62 lakh crore for capital expenditure.

Compared to previous year, higher allocation has been made for new lines, gauge conversion, doubling, track renewal and electrification projects in the current fiscal.

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