Telangana got a record railway budgetary allocation of ₹5,337 crore in current year’s budget, which incidentally, is just one crore rupees more when compared to last year’s allocation. Andhra Pradesh, on the other hand, got ₹9,417 crore or an additional ₹266 crore when compared to last year’s ₹9,151 crore for various railway works.
Overall, South Central Railway (SCR) straddling both the Telugu States got an all-time high of ₹14,754 crore this year when it was ₹14,232 crore last year. In fact, the total investment for Telangana for railway projects is to the tune of ₹41,677 crore and it is a high of ₹84,559 crore for AP, disclosed Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw through a virtual press meet from New Delhi on Monday.
The total budget for united AP between 2009-14 was only about ₹886 crore at an average and the funds allocation for railway works has risen to almost six times for Telangana and 11 times for Andhra Pradesh, he pointed out. SCR network is now 100% electrified and it has been leading in the installation of ‘Kavach’ – indigenous automatic train protection system with 1,465 km commissioned and trials for the installation of latest version 4.0 underway, he said.
“We have targeted to deploy ‘Kavach’ throughout the entire rail network in the next six years across the country,” he said. Five ‘Vande Bharat’ trains are being operated in Telangana covering seven districts and having nine stoppages and 40 stations are being re-developed. About 50 New Namo Bharat trains, 200 Vande Bharat trains and 100 new Amrit Bharat trains have been approved and the running of these trains will be announced from time to time.
About 7,000 km of old track is being replaced and upgraded to run the trains at a speed of 160 kmph on important sections. Some routes will have the capacity to run the trains at speed of 130 kmph and entire network will have a capacity to run the trains at 100 kmph, he added. SCR General Manager Arun Kumar Jain and other senior officers were present.
