Rly capex rises to ₹2.65 trillion

Around ₹1.08 trillion lined up for critical safety works like Kavach

- DHRUVAKSH SAHA & SHINE JACOB

On February 25, 2016, when the then railway minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu stood up to present his Budget - the last railway Budget he termed it a reflection of common citizens' aspirations. In 2017-18, breaking a 92-year-old legacy, India merged the railways Budget with the main Budget. By 2024-25, from having a separate Budget, Indian Railways hardly found a mention in the Budget speech on Tuesday.

The national transporter, however, saw a marginal rise of 2 per cent in its outlay provided for capital expenditure (capex) in the Union Budget of 2024-25 at a record ₹2.652 trillion, from ₹2.6 trillion in the Revised Estimate (RE) for 2023-24.

The majority of the capex comes from a record share of government budget support or general revenues, pegged at ₹2.52 trillion, up by 5 per cent from ₹2.4 trillion in the revised estimate of the last Budget.