Budget and Financial Overview:
- Capital Expenditure (Capex):
- No significant increase in capex beyond the₹2.62 lakh crore from the past two years.
- Despite₹13 lakh crore spent on modernisation over the last decade, the returns remain underwhelming.
- IR’s operational costs are not covered by its own earnings, leading to government’s continued financial support.
Key Announcements and Measures
- Infrastructure and Connectivity:
- Focus on enhancing infrastructure, station modernisation, train upgrades, and increasing connectivity.
- Commitment to accelerating the construction of new railway lines, doubling, gauge conversion, and adding new rolling stock.
- 150 km of new tracks laid annually since 2014, up from 113 km annually in the previous decade.
- Safety:
- Safety-related initiatives:₹1,16,514 crore allocated.
- Kavach Safety System: No expansion announced for 2025-26; only 1,465 km of Kavach system deployed so far.
- Safety work has focused on grade separation, but no significant increase in Kavach coverage.
- Electrification:
- IR has achieved an electrification rate of 294 Rkms/year (from 18 Rkms/year before 2014).
- India on track to become the world’s first fully electrified railway network, but concerns raised about underutilisation of diesel locomotives.
- Most IR electricity still comes from fossil-fuel-based power plants.
- Vande Bharat Trains:
- 200 new Vande Bharat trains to be introduced, but no clear timeline provided.
- Pending major projects such as the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail remain unaddressed.
Concerns and Criticisms
- Station Redevelopment:
- Station redevelopment projects are stalled or slow, with visible progress only at a few locations like Gandhinagar and Ayodhya.
- New Delhi Station transformation remains stuck due to repeated re-tendering.
- EPC mode is now used after the failure of PPP projects, raising concerns about long-term maintenance.
- High-Speed Rail Network:
- A vision to build a 7,000 km high-speed rail network by 2047 was proclaimed, but lacks a clear strategy or timeline.
- Freight Growth:
- Declaration to become the world’s second-largest freight carrier (1.6 billion tonnes) lacks context and fails to address the decline in freight share.
- No clear plan to reclaim eroding freight traffic or to improve train speeds and passenger comfort.
