Record 5,337 Crore For State In Budget For Railways

Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw today held a virtual press conference from New Delhi on the highlights of the allocations in the Union Budget for railway projects for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

SCR General Manager Arun Kumar Jain along with other senior railway officials participated in the press meet from Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad.

Vaishnaw stated that Telangana had been sanctioned a record allocation of Rs 5,337 crore for the year 2025-26.

He said that the average annual budget outlay for combined Andhra Pradesh during the years 2009-14 was only Rs 886 crore, and that the allocation for Telangana had thus seen an almost six times increase compared to the average allocation during the period 2009-14 for the combined State.

The minister said that an amount of Rs 41,677 was being invested for various rail development projects in Telangana. He said that the railway network in Telangana was now 100% electrified. He also said that Telangana was leading in the installation of Kavach, with the centre of excellence for Kavach located at Secunderabad. 1,465 km of Kavach had already been commissioned in various sections across the SCR jurisdiction, and the trials for the installation of the latest version 4.0 were underway, he said.

"We have targeted deploying Kavach throughout the rail network of the country in the next six years," he added.

Vaishnaw also said that five Vande Bharat trains were being operated in Telangana covering seven districts and having nine stoppages. He announced that 50 new Namo Bharat trains, 200 Vande Bharat trains and 100 new Amrit Bharat trains had also been approved for the State, and that the running of these trains would be announced from time to time.

Redevelopment of 40 railway stations in Telangana had also been taken up under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, he said.