Guwahati: Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday (February 1) interacted with media persons of the Northeast in connection with the fund allotted in the interim budget 2024-25 for Indian Railways.
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While addressing the media persons at the Rail Bhawan in New Delhi, the Minister of Railways informed that a capital outlay of over Rs 2.5 lakh crore has been provided in the budget for the Indian Railways.
Railway Minister Vaishnaw mentioned that three major railway corridor programmes will be implemented as announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech.
These are energy, mineral and cement corridors. The cement corridor, port-connectivity corridor and high-traffic density corridor, will improve logistics efficiency and reduce transportation cost that will improve safety for passenger trains as well.
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The Finance Minister said that a total of 40,000 normal railway coaches will be converted to ‘Vande Bharat’ standards.
The Minister of Railways said that as many as 60 stations in the Northeast are being redeveloped with world class amenities and facilities.
The Minister also informed that the ‘One Station One Product’ (OSOP) stalls operational all over the NF Railway are providing a direct selling market to the locally produced items which are getting a good response from passengers with a profitable growth.
During the interaction with media persons, Railway Minister Vaishnaw said that physical progress of all the ongoing projects in the Northeastern region are advancing at a good pace.
Despite being in the Himalayan region and running through tough terrains, project works are going on a round the clock basis for early completion.
Moreover, Railway Minister Vaishnaw said that the gross budget allocation for railway infrastructure projects in the Northeast for the financial year 2024-25 is Rs 10,369 crore, which is 388 per cent higher as compared to average budget allocation of Rs 2,122 crore during 2009-14.
This year’s budget allocation shows unprecedented growth in several segments including new line and doubling projects, track renewal works, traffic facilities, road safety works, bridge works, signalling, workshop modernisation and customer amenities among others.
The Railway Minister also informed that an investment of Rs 81,941 crore is being done in the entire Northeastern region for development of railway infrastructure.