Indian Railways will invest Rs. 7 trillion to build new railway lines!?
It has been reported that the indian Railways will invest Rs. 7 trillion in the next 10 years to build new railway lines. indian Railways will invest at least Rs 7 trillion over the next decade to build 50,000 kilometers (km) of new rail lines to modernize its network and increase the speed of trains, a top railway ministry official said. Buoyed by the significant progress in laying new lines in the last two years, indian Railways now wants to go into the mode of improving connectivity with modern lines capable of handling high-speed trains like the Vande Bharat, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Laying of new tracks will be a part of indian Railways Vision Plan 2047 document. Under this, it seems that renovation work will be carried out on about 100,000 km of roads in the next 25 years at a cost of Rs.15-20 trillion. “Railways has successfully laid 5,200 km of new tracks in 2022-23. Expect the same this year too. The target is to maintain this momentum for the next 10 years. At the same time we need to focus on replacing old dilapidated tracks and present a robust railway infrastructure capable of handling modern high speed transport systems.” He also said.
Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav has already said that indian Railways will focus on laying new tracks to bring modern railway infrastructure to every part of India. The official added that Rs 50,000 crore will be earmarked for laying 5,000-5,500 km of new roads in the next year's budget. This is higher than the FY2024 budget estimate of Rs 31,850 crore for new tracks.
At current cost, 1 km of road will cost Rs 15 crore. It varies depending on prices of basic necessities like steel and availability of land for laying tracks. The official also said that the railways will ensure that all new lines meet the requirements of high-speed and semi-high-speed trains like the Vande Bharat, which can touch a speed of 180 kmph.