Provision for Indian Railways in the Union Budget 2024-25

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her seventh consecutive budget on 23 July 2024. It was the Narendra Modi government's first budget after returning to power for the third straight term. Most of the budget allocated for railways has been earmarked for enhancing railway safety as there has been a spate of rail accidents in India.

Railway Budget presented as part of the Union Budget

• Since 2017-18, the government of India has introduced no separate railway budget, and the allocation of the Indian Railways is now a part of the general union budget.
• In 1924, on the recommendation of the Acworth committee, the railway budget was separated from the central government's general budget. 
• The railway budget was merged with the Union general budget in  2017-18, and Arun Jaitley was the then Union finance minister.  
• John Mathai presented the first railway budget of Independent India on 20 November 1947.
• Babu Jagjivan Ram holds the record for presenting the railway budget seven times.  

Provision regarding Railways in 2024-25 Budget 

Allocation 

The total allocation for 2024-25 is Rs 2,52,000 crore, compared to Rs. 2,40,200 crore in 2023-24, a growth of around 5%.

The budgetary allocation for railways has remained the same since Nirmala Sitharaman presented the interim budget 2024-25 just before the general election 2024.

Railway Safety 

Out of the total allocation, Rs 1.08 lakh crore will be spent on measures to boost railway safety. The money will be used to upgrade old railway tracks, improve Indian Railways' signalling systems, create flyovers and underpasses, and install the Kavach system on the Indian Railway network.

The Kavach system has been developed indigenously. In the Kavach system, electronic devices are installed in train engines, signalling systems, and rail tracks to control the brakes of trains and alert drivers. The system automatically engages the train's braking mechanism if a train exceeds a designated speed limit and the driver fails to intervene.

Provision regarding Railway Track 

• Allocation for track renewal in 2024-25- Rs 17,651.98 crore.
• Allocation for gauge conversion -4,719.50 crore.
• Allocation for converting single line track into double line track- Rs 29,312.19 crore.
• Allocation for building new railway lines - Rs 34,602.75 crore. Railways aims to lay 2,000 km of new tracks.
• The Indian Railways has commissioned 31,180 kilometres of track in the past decade. In 2013-14,4 kilometres of track were laid down daily, which has now increased to 14.54 kilometres per day in 2023-24. 

Electrification of Railway Track 

From 2014 to 2024, the Indian railway electrified 41,655 Route Kilometers (RKMs), while only 21,413 RKMs were electrified until 2014.

The railway ministry aims for 100 per cent electrification of its broad gauge network by July 2024. 

History of electrification of the rail route

• The first electric train ran in India on 3 February 1925 between Bombay VT(now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) and Kurla Harbour in Mumbai.
• After independence, the first route to be electrified was the Howrah - Burdwan section in West Bengal in 1958.

Railways Financial Performance

• The Operating Ratio target for the Indian railways in 2024-25 is 98.22 per cent, compared to 98.65 per cent achieved during the 2023-24 financial year.
• The operating ratio is the number of rupees spent by railways to earn every 100 rupees. If the Operating ratio is less than 100, then the railway is in profit, and if it is above 100, then the railway is in loss. 
• The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railway.
• The railway's total revenue in 2023-24 was Rs 2.40 lakh crore, and its total expenditure was Rs 2.26 lakh crore. Railways was in profit during 2023-24.
• The Revenue generation target from the Passenger segment in 2024-25 is Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 73,000 crore in 2023-24).
• The revenue generation target from freight transportation in 2024-25 is Rs 1,74,500 crore(in 2023-24, it was Rs 1,64,700 crore, less than the target set for the financial year).

Target for Freight Loading

• The Indian railways earn profit from goods trains or freight train services, while the passenger service is loss-making.  
• In 2023-24, the railways achieved a freight loading of 1588 MT. The Indian Railways has set a target of 3000 MT of freight loading by 2030.
• The Dedicated Freight Corridor will help the railway achieve this freight loading target.

Dedicated Freight Corridor 

Allocation to the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCC) for 2024-25: Rs 8,155 crore (Rs 27,482 crore last year).

The funds will mainly be used to complete the construction of the  Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.

The Railway Budget 2005-06 announced the Dedicated Freight Corridor project. It proposed the creation of a separate railway track for goods trains on which freight trains can run at an average speed of more than 75 km per hour. 

The Railway Ministry established the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) in 2006 to implement the project.

The dedicated freight corridor has two components: Eastern and Western freight corridor.

Eastern  Freight Corridor  -  

• The total length is 1856 km. 
• It connects Dankuni (West Bengal) to Ludhiana (Dhandarikalan) in Punjab.
• It crosses six states: West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab.
• According to the Indian Railway, it has become operational.

Western Freight Corridor 

• It is 1506 km long. 
• It connects Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) to JNPT port Mumbai(Maharashtra). 
• It crosses through five states -Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
• It is almost 93.2 per cent complete and is expected to become fully operational in 2024-25.

Japan and the World Bank are the major funders of the Dedicated Freight Corridor project in India.

New Freight Corridor 

In the 2010-11 Railway budget, the government announced three more dedicated freight corridors;

• East-West Corridor (Palghar-Bhusawal-Dankuni Approx 2106 Km & Rajkharsawan-Andal 200 Km) 
• North-South Corridor (Itarasi-Vijaywada) Approx 931 Km
• East Coast Corridor (Kharagpur-Vijaywada) 1078

2,500 passenger Coaches 

The Railway Ministry announced the construction of 2,500 new passenger coaches in 2024-25.

The Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the construction of more than 10,000 2,500 new passenger coaches.

Indian Railways manufactures its passenger coaches at:

• Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was set up in 1955.
• Rail Coach Factory- Karputhala, Punjab. It started its production in 1987.
• Modern Coach Factory- Lalganj, in Raebareli district of Uttar Pradesh. It started its production in 2014.