Rs 6,080 cr allocated to TN in rly Budget: Ashwini Vaishnaw

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has been provided a budgetary allocation of Rs 6,080 crore for various railway projects in the 2023-24 fiscal, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday.

Interacting with media persons from New Delhi through video conference, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the State has been allocated Rs 6,080 crore for the 2023-24 financial year in the Budget, which is seven times more than the Rs 879 crore allocated during 2009-14 (second tenure of the UPA).

Going by a presentation made during the zone-wide media interaction, the State has been allocated Rs 1,056.90 crore for new railway line projects and Rs 457.78 crore budget outlay for seven gauge-conversion works, including Rs 183.54 crore Tiruchchirappalli-Nagore-Karaikkal gauge conversion with extension of Nagapattinam-Velankanni-Tiruthiraipundi and new material modification of Karaikal – Peralam (23kms). An outlay of Rs 1,321.28 crore has also been made for 16 doubling works in the state in the ensuing fiscal. A sum of Rs 383.92 crore has been allocated in the Budget for nine ongoing railway electrification works in the State, including Rs 86.12 crore for Sengottai – Tenkasi – Tirunelveli – Tiruchendur (141 route kms) and Rs 75 crore each for Virudhunagar – Tenkasi (122 route kms), Dindigul – Palakkad (179 route kms) and Madurai – Manamadurai – Rameswaram (161 route kms).

Ashwini Vaishnaw added that 90 stations in the southern railway zone (15 per division) have been identified for development under the Amrit Bharat Station scheme.

Stating that production of Vande Bharat express, which requires a very complex supply chain, has been stabilized, the minister said that almost 320 trains have been fully replaced with brand new coaches and most of the trains in the country would be replaced with new coaches over the next four years.