Union Budget 2023: Govt of India allocates ₹2.63 lakh crore for Railways and Metro projects

New Delhi, India (Metro Rail Today): The Government of India has allocated a total of Rs 2,63,114 crore to all railways, metro and other MRTS projects across the country in the Union Budget 2023-24 on 1st February 2023.

The government has allocated Rs 2,40,000 crores for various railways projects including Dedicated Freight Corridors, High Speed Rail, Bengaluru Suburban Rail and Production of Vande Bharat Trains, Hydrogen Trains and Coaches for Railways. 

The government has allocated Rs 12,241 crore for under construction Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors. Rs 19,592 crore allocated for Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor and Rs 450 crore for Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project.

Rs 3,596 crore allocated to the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) for the country's first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project, a fall of about 23% from the outlay in the last budget. In the Budget 2022-23, the government had also allocated Rs 4,710 crore to the NCRTC.

Rs 20,018 crore allocated for Metro Railways and other MRTS projects in the country. The outlay for this year includes equity investment of Rs 4,471 crore, subordinate debt of Rs 1,324 cr and pass through assistance Rs 13,723 crore. The allocation in 2022-23 was Rs 19,130 crore. However, the revised budget estimates for the same for 2022-23 was 15,628 crore, according to budget documents.

The project-wise allocation can be see in the below table:

"Vande Metro, a mini version of the Vande Bharat Express trains, will be developed by the Railways for people living around big cities to travel to and from in comfort between their place of work and hometowns," he further said.

At present, a total of 819.68 kilometres metro rail network operational in 15 cities of India.