Railway Budget 2021: Will Centre Focus on New Bullet Trains in Coming Years? Details Here

Railway Budget 2021 Latest Updates: With Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman all set to present Budget 2021 on February 1, it is expected that the Central government this year will focus on introduction of more bullet trains for the years to come. Notably, Rail Budget 2021 is part of Budget 2021. Also Read – Job, Growth, Healthcare, Fiscal Deficit: Will Centre Address These Challenges in Budget 2021?

The development comes as the Indian Railways recently released its draft National Rail Plan 2024 proposing 8000 kilometres of bullet train networks across the country. Also Read – Budget 2021: Will Govt Bring Cheer to Pandemic-hit Middle Class? A Look at Expectations This Year

Last year while presenting the budget, Sitharaman had said that high-speed train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad would be actively pursued by the Railways. However, the country’s maiden high-speed rail network is under construction between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. At this time, the Railways Ministry has asked the NHSRCL to prepare detailed project reports of seven high speed rail corridors. Also Read – Budget 2021: Nirmala Sitharaman Holds Pre-Budget Meeting With Finance Ministers From All States

Moreover, the report about Delhi-Varanasi bullet train corridor via Ayodhya has already been submitted to Railways Ministry in October last year in October. This bullet train corridor will connect major cities like Lucknow, Mathura, Ayodhya, Prayagraj and Agra.

It must be a good news for all tat the National Rail Plan 2024 has proposed new rail projects corridors such as Varanasi-Patna, Amritsar-Jammu, Patna-Guwahati and Hyderabad-Bangalore.

According to other reports, the Ministry of Railways has demanded gross budgetary support (GBS) of about Rs 75,000 crore from the Ministry of Finance in the upcoming Budget 2021. The GBS demanded by the railway ministry is about 7 per cent higher than GBS of Rs 70,250 crore allocated for the financial year 2020-21 in last year’s budget.

The Railways in a statement had said that it has pegged the total outlay for Railways at Rs 1,80,000 crore for 2021-22 to the Ministry of Finance. Out of this, GBS of Rs 75,000 crore has been demanded.

The total capital expenditure for which representation has been made by the ministry is 12.5 per cent over the previous year’s budget estimate on the outlay. However, the Railways Ministry is hopeful that the government will approve Railway budget size of at least Rs 1,70,000 crore, which essentially will mean a 6 per cent increment in the size of the Railway budget.