Maharashtra gets ₹ 13,539 crore allocation in rail budget; ₹ 10,600 crore earmarked for Central Railway

Mumbai: Of Rs 13,539 crore allocated for railway in Maharashtra in the Union budget 2023-24, Rs 10,600 crore have been earmarked for the Central Railway, officials said on Friday.

The budget has also earmarked Rs 19,592 crore for the ambitious Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project, said Naresh Lalwani, general manager of the Central Railway.

Western Railway received a 76% increased budget than last year

For the Western Railway, there has been an increase of 76% in the allocation at Rs 16,182 crore. The total plan outlay for the Central Railway in the 2023-24 budget is Rs 10,600 crore, 46% higher than Rs 7,251 crore budgeted in 2022-23, Lalwani said.

Of this allocation, Rs 1,685 crore is earmarked for new railway lines, Rs 50 crore for gauge conversion, Rs 2,702 for doubling and additional line projects, Rs 177 crore for traffic services and Rs 695 crore for road safety works like the construction of Road Over Bridges.

As much as Rs 776 crore have been allocated for station redevelopment and customer amenities.

Details on other rail projects budget allocation

A sum of Rs 900 crore has been allocated for the 467 km long Pune-Miraj-Londha railway line, while the 247.5 km long Daund-Manmad railway line project has got Rs 430 crore.

The 160 km long Manmad Jalgaon 3rd line project has been allocated Rs 350 crore, 280 km long Itarsi-Nagpur 3rd line project Rs 310 crore, 85 km long Solapur-Osmanabad-Tuljapur railway line project Rs 110 crore and 132 km long Wardha-Balharshah railway line project Rs 300 crore, among other projects.

Rs 100 crore have been allocated for a 28-km-long corridor between Kalyan-Murbad via Ulhasnagar in Thane district that is estimated to cost around Rs 726.46 crore. This line will provide train connectivity to rural parts of the Thane district.

For a third rail line between Kalyan and Kasara on the Central Railway, Rs 90 crore have been earmarked. In the last budget, Rs 104 crore were allotted for the project that aims to reduce the burden on the existing suburban corridor between Kalyan-Kasara, Central Railway officials said.