Indian Railways has been focusing on safety, infrastructure upgradation, launch of new trains and revamped railway stations as well.Vande Bharat trains, Vande Bharat sleeper trains, Amrit Bharat trains, Vande Metro are some of the new trains that may find mention in Railway Budget 2024.
Railway Budget 2024: New trains, record capex?
With Vande Bharat Express trains, Indian Railways has been revamping passenger comfort. The added aim is faster travel with semi-high speed trains. However, Vande Bharat Express trains are air-conditioned chair car services and not suitable for long-distance overnight travel. Indian Railways is now looking to introduce Vande Bharat sleeper trains that will be better than Rajdhani Express trains. An announcement on the rollout of these Vande Bharat sleeper trains may be expected in Railway Budget 2024.
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Recently, Indian Railways launched the Amrit Bharat Express trains – a new premium push-pull technology train for the common man. The non-AC Amrit Bharat Express has several passenger comforts for general unreserved passengers and Indian Railways is looking to soon add AC coaches to the train as well in the coming financial year. FM Sitharaman may mention the Amrit Bharat Express train in her Railway Budget 2024 speech.
Railway experts are of the view that a record capital expenditure may be announced for Indian Railways in this year’s Budget, given the government’s focus on infrastructure. The figure could be close to Rs 3 lakh crore, feel experts.
Railway Budget 2024 is also likely to focus on safety, with infrastructure upgradation and track renewal in particular limelight. Yet another project that may find mention in the Railway Budget 2024 is Kavach anti-collision train system that has been indigenously developed by Indian Railways and is said to be a more cost effective solution to the European anti-collision systems.
